OeAD Alumni Newsletter 1 / 2009 AALUMNI ... - TU Wiengebeshuber/alumni1-09.pdf · conference...

OeAD Alumni Newsletter 1 / 2009

Dear Sir or Madam, Dear alumnus, dear scholar,

We are pleased to present to you the fi rst OeAD Alumni Newsletter of 2009. We do hope you will enjoy reading it!

This edition focuses on Uganda as one of the priority countries of the Austrian De-velopment Cooperation (ADC). First you can read an overview about the country‘s people and economy, then North-South-Dialogue alumni and current scholars from Uganda describe their experiences in Austria and afterwards. Nadja Horesovsky describes the ADC in Uganda. Finally you can fi nd an example of a KEF-funded program involving scientifi c cooperation between two Ugandan Universities and an Austrian University.

Additionally, Mushahid Anwar describes a successful partnership between Austria and Pakistan for developing strong education and research linkages through the support of the Higher Education Commission Isla-mabad-Pakistan.

On January 1st, 2009 the Austrian Exchange Service was converted into the “Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Ed-ucation and Research (OeAD-GmbH)“. This change does not affect the administration of the programmes but has a big impact on our internal organisation which is described in the newsletter.

Also in this edition you will fi nd reports about the numerous activities of the OeAD, such as the visit of the Austrian delegation in

Ethiopia from 19-22 February 2009 and the conference „Internationalisation and Deve-lopment Policy Dimensions at Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences“ from April 16 - 17, 2009 in Vienna, which is co-organised by the OeAD.

Your OeAD ALUMNI editorial team

P.S.: If you want to share your experiences

as a student or researcher in Austria with us

and fellow alumni or let us know about your

academic or professional career, please send

your contribution to: [email protected]

The next deadline is July 31, 2009.

Editorial

ALUMNI NewsletterALUMNI NewsletterApril 2009April 2009

2


ContentsContents

Editorial

Alumni Experiences

Uganda: A silent paradise, Paul MPUGA ..................................................................................................................................................... 3

My life‘s journey: How the scholarship made a turning point in my life, Paul MPUGA ..................................................................................... 5

PhD Journey in Austria and Post-PhD. activities, Florence NAGENDO ............................................................................................................ 6

A visit to the Preacher’s Chair – Der Predigtstuhl, Martin MARANI ................................................................................................................ 8

My life in Austria and thereafter: Challenges and Opportunities, Oscar Ouma KAMBONA ..............................................................................10

Salzburg opened the door to my scientifi c career, Yamirka ROJAS-AGRAMONTE ............................................................................................. 12

OeAD Scholarship - knowledge, new ideas and experiences, Yordanka GLUHCHEVA ...................................................................................................... 13

Hundreds of great memories to cherish, Romina BRASCA ...........................................................................................................................15

Climbing up the hill, Cezary PIECZETOWSKI ..............................................................................................................................................16

Research Partnership

A success story of partnership between Austria and Pakistan for developing strong education and research linkages through the support of Higher Education Commission Islamabad-Pakistan, Mushahid ANWAR .........................................................................................................17

Water - Precious resource in a Pakistani desert, Daniela GRAF & Mushahid ANWAR ......................................................................................19

Student Experiences

Can socio-economic aspects fi ll the gaps in water research? David BAGUMA ................................................................................................20

Development partnership/cooperation between Uganda and Austria, Constantine LOUM ..............................................................................21

From Africa to Europe in search of the career needs, Emanuel MARTIN .......................................................................................................22

Supervisor ExperiencesExperiences of a supervisor within the North-South-Dialogue Scholarship Programme, Georg GRATZER.........................................................23

Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC)

Water and Justice for Uganda. The Austrian Development Cooperation in Uganda, Nadja HORESOVSKY ........................................................23

Commission for Development Studies (kef)

Teledermatology Web Consultation and E-Learning Project Kampala-Mbarara and Graz, Steven KADDU & Matthias WEISSGRAM .....................24

Alumni activities/measures

Alumni conference in Ethiopia: North-South-Dialogue – From knowledge to practice, April 22-23, 2009 .........................................................27

New North-South-Dialogue alumni measure: Funding for scientifi c cooperation ............................................................................................27

General Information

OeAD News ............................................................................................................................................................................................28

OeAD - New Corporate Design .................................................................................................................................................................29

New organisational units at the OeAD .......................................................................................................................................................30

Visit of Austrian Delegation in Ethiopia (19-22 February 2009), Hubert DÜRRSTEIN & Irene MÜLLER ............................................................33

Publications and Events

KKS Poster ..............................................................................................................................................................................................35

“Kooperationen” ......................................................................................................................................................................................35

Conference: Internationalisation and Development Policy Dimensions ........................................................................................................37

Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................................................................37

3


Alumni Experiences

Paul MPUGA, [email protected]

Introduction: People and Geography

Uganda has a population of about 30 mil-lion, with about 51 percent women and 49 percent men. Like many developing countries, the country is faced with the challenges of a rapidly growing populati-on including a big youthful population and high dependency rates. Between 1991 and 2002 Uganda’s population was estimated to grow at approximately 3.2 percent per annum. But because of the built-in mo-mentum by 2007 the population growth was projected at about 3.5 percent per annum. At about 110 dependants (people younger than 15 years or older than 64 years) for every 100 people in the working age group (15-64 years) Uganda has the highest dependency ratio in Africa. Close to 50 percent of the population is younger than 15 years.

In general, the people of Uganda live to-gether in harmony and the population is

highly sociable and receptive towards visi-tors, irrespective of colour or tribe. At the time of demarcating the borders several tribes were brought together to form the nation of Uganda. The Baganda from the central region form the biggest proportion of Uganda’s total population. In fact the name Uganda is derived from the central region name, Buganda. Despite the turbu-lent times the country has gone through especially between the 1960s and 1980s much of the country is now peaceful. Ho-wever, in parts of the North the situation is not stable because of the rebels of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), who have for a long time stubbornly killed and maimed people. Since the peace process to end the rebellion was started some 3 years ago the LRA rebels relocated to the Garamba forests in the Democratic Republic of Con-go (DRC). But the peace process seems to be crumbling with renewed fi ghting between the LRA and the combined force of the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces, South Sudan and the DRC since December 2008. Since then the LRA has resumed its unfortunate tactics of maiming and killing

innocent civilians inside the DRC.

Located along the equator, Uganda has a pleasant cli-mate and green environment all the year around. The country is source to the world’s second-longest river – River Nile, which starts from Lake Victo-ria in the south-eastern corner. Uganda is habitat to several species of fl ora and fauna, including the rare mountain gorillas found in the Bwindi impenetrable forest

Uganda: A silent paradise in Africa

in the south-west. There are several nati-onal parks and tourist attractions across the country.

In November 2007 Uganda successfully hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Go-vernment Meeting (CHOGM) that brought to the country over 50 heads of govern-ments and over 5,000 visitors at the same time. The meeting was an important oc-casion for the country to showcase its potentials and to attract investors. It also helped to initiate, expand and/or rehabi-litate several infrastructural projects and hotels and conference facilities.

Economy

Uganda’s economy depends mainly on agriculture but since the 1990s there has been a signifi cant structural transformati-on with the services and industry sectors accounting for a large proportion of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While in 2008 agriculture accounted for about 22 percent of the GDP the sector accounted for over 50 percent in 1991 (ref. Figure 1). On the other hand, the services sec-tor accounted for over 50 percent of the GDP in 2008, up from around 35 percent in 1991. On the other hand, the industrial sector accounts for about 26 percent of the total GDP. Within the industrial sector construction is the biggest sub-sector, ac-counting for about 12 percent of the GDP. The share of manufacturing has stagna-ted at around 7 percent of the GDP since the 1990s. The drive to industrialize the economy still remains a big challenge due to bottlenecks ranging from infrastructure shortages to institutional weaknesses.

Economic growth and povertyreduction

In terms of economic growth Uganda has registered robust and impressive growth rates since the 1990s, thanks to the so-cial and economic reforms undertaken by the government since then. Between 1990

4


Figure 1: Trends in the sectoral composition of

Uganda’s GDP

Structural transformation is occurring in Uganda:

Agriculture’s share of the GDP is declining while

services and industry are increasing.Source: Data obtained from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics.

Conclusion

Uganda is a beautiful and attractive coun-try, with a very hospitable population – a silent paradise in Africa. The former British Prime Minister referred to Uganda as the ‘Pearl of Africa’. Uganda has a liberal tra-de and exchange rate regime, offering a very conducive investment climate to both national and foreign investors. Several in-ternational airlines including Air France, British Airways, KLM, SN-Brussels, Emi-rates, Kenya Airways, etc. have direct and regular fl ights to the major international airport located at Entebbe.

In addition, there are a number of charter fl ights available for domestic travel and travel by land or sea to the major tourist sites is generally safe and easy. It is the-refore a place to consider visiting for busi-ness or vacation.

This impressive economic performance has been largely due to prudent macroe-conomic management and the wide range of structural reforms undertaken since the late 1980s. For example, tight monetary and fi scal policies reduced infl ation from over 200 percent in the 1980s and early 1990s to single digits since around 1995. Currently the government target rate of infl ation is set at 5 percent per annum, although there are occasional fl uctuations in the actual rate due to seasonality and external factors. For example, owing to the high international and domestic food prices, annualized headline infl ation was reported at about 14 percent during De-cember 2008. Liberalization of the econo-my, including the foreign exchange market and dismantling of state monopolies eli-minated the black market premium have contributed to improving the investment climate in the country.Foreign aid remains an important com-ponent of the country’s source of public spending, accounting for about 40 percent of the government budget in the fi nancial year 2007/8. Project aid also plays an im-portant role in providing essential services in health, education, water and sanitation and road infrastructure.

Impact of current global economic crisis

Although the magnitude of the current global economic and fi nancial crisis on the Ugandan economy is not yet clear it is projected to have adverse impacts on eco-nomic growth, investment and remittance into the country. Already economic growth for the fi nancial year 2008/9 is projected to decline from about 9 percent to about 7 percent on account of the decline in ma-nufacturing and exports. For the fi rst in about 15 years, infl ation has been recor-ded in double digits.

Uganda: A Silent Paradise in Africa

Alumni Experiences

and 2007 Uganda’s GDP grew at a respec-table rate of about 7.5 percent per annum, well above the 5.4 percent for the rest of Africa and only 3 percent for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, because of high population growth the level of the GDP per capita remains low at only about US$ 320 in 2007, growing at about 3.25 per-cent per annum. Related to the structural transformation much of the growth in the GDP has been driven by the services sec-tor, which grew at an average of 9 percent per annum.

Since 1992 Uganda has made signifi cant gains in reducing poverty, consistent with the high economic growth and structural transformation. The proportion of people living below the national poverty line has been reduced from a high of 56 percent in 1992/3 to 31 percent in 2005/6, ref. Figure 1. However, rural poverty remains high, at about 34 percent compared to poverty in the urban areas at about 14 percent. In addition, income distribution is also ske-wed towards the rich, with the Gini Coef-fi cient of income distribution estimated at 0.36 in 2005/6, up from 0.31 in 1997.

Partly because of the unequal distribution of income Uganda performs rather poorly on the Human Development Index (HDI), which is a broader defi nition of wellbeing, developed by the United Nations Deve-lopment Programme. In 2006 Uganda’s score on the HDI was 0.493, (compared to 0.505 in 2005) and was ranked 156th out of 176 countries included (compared to the 154th position out of 177 countries in 2005).

The HDI provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (mea-sured by adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income).

5


Paul MPUGA, PhD, [email protected]

Growing up

I am a Ugandan aged 40 years, married with one child. Born to Mr. and Mrs. Ka-goro in Kabarole district in Western Ug-anda, I had a humble background. We were a family of 13 children and we grew up doing various household chores inclu-ding fetching fi rewood and water, cleaning utensils and working in the gardens (inclu-ding planting, weeding, harvesting crops, etc). Working in the gardens would some-times be very exciting when, in–between, we could roast maize, cassava or sweet potatoes which sometimes would sub-stitute for lunch. While off to fetch fi re-wood or water we would often stray out to look for fruits (guavas, mangoes, etc.) or sugar-cane, which we would feast on as we gathered the fi rewood or fi lled our containers (normally plastic cans of about 20 liters) with water.

One of the most involving and tiring ex-ercises we did as we grew up was brew-ing and distilling alcohol. The work would involve harvesting and gathering mature bananas, putting them in a pit or stand covering them with dry and fresh banana leaves and earth and then blowing in smo-ke so that they could ripen. On the mor-ning of the 6th day we would get the now ripe bananas, put then in a specially pre-pared shallow crater covered with banana leaves. Well-cut spear grass would be ad-ded and then one adult man or two lads would step on them repeatedly to squeeze out juice concentrate, and water would be added to dilute the concentrate. Women were never allowed to undertake this task. Then sorghum (yeast) would be added to the juice and the cocktail which would be kept in a boat-like provision for 2 days and on the third day the fermented juice would now taste like sweet wine and would be for consumption and sale through the local dealers. The process of distilling waragi,

a local gin, is even longer. The ‘wine’ is al-lowed to grow even bitter for another 2 or 3 days and then poured into used cylindrical oil containers onto which pi-pes would have been welded to create an exit route for the steam. The di-stilling process would take place close to a natural stream so that the pipes would go through fl owing water for cooling to take place. While the pay-off was much higher, the process of di-stilling was much more elaborate.

School and University time

I started my primary school, the Agkan Primary School (no secondary school) in Mbarara, where my father worked at the time. I later came back to Kamengo Primary School in Kabarole to join primary two. Be-cause of the change in language and being shy in class I had to repeat primary one after only one term in primary two! I did both my secondary and high school levels at St. Leo’s College, Kyegobe, a boys-only school founded by the Catholic Missionaries in Fort-Portal. I then proceeded to university at Makerere University in Kampala where I did Economics at both undergraduate and master’s levels.

My fi rst year at university was the hardest. Studying mathematics at university (in ad-dition to Economics and Psychology) in the fi rst year proved to be the biggest challenge in my academic life. Whereas I was always comfortable in mathematics right from pri-mary through secondary I found the univer-sity level mathematics (the Math X ‘species’) rather abstract, for example having to prove

that 1 plus 1 is equal to 2. But with increa-sed effort and group discussions I managed to go through the fi rst year without repea-ting any paper.

Working Life

After about one year of completing Uni-versity I started working with the Bank of Baroda in 1993, an Indian commercial bank incorporated in Uganda, Kampala, for about 10 months before joining the Department of Economics at Makerere University as a teaching assistant. In 1994 I was offered a scholarship to do a Master’s in Economic Policy and Planning in the same department, following which I was hired as Lecturer.

Moving to Linz, Austria

Sponsored under the North-South-Dialo-gue Scholarship programme I did my PhD in Social and Economic Sciences at Jo-hannes Kepler University in Linz between 2001 and 2003, under the supervision of Professors Michael Landesmann and Ru-dolf Winder-Ebmer. My research focused on demand for rural fi nancial services in Uganda, using household survey data ga-thered by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. It was an exciting and rewarding period of my life. Both professors were very resourceful

Alumni Experiences

© oead

My life’s journey: How the scholarship made a turning point in my life

Johannes Kepler University

6


Florence NANGENDO, PhD

You are looking at the photograph of Dr. Florence Nangendo, in a traditional Kiganda attire of the Baganda tribe, locally known as Gomasi or Busuuti. I was awarded a North-South-Dialogue Scholarship in September 1999, fi nanced by the Austrian Develop-ment Cooperation. One day, which I do not remember very well, but in December towards the break of the festive season, I received a call from the secretary in the de-partment of Social Work and Social Admini-stration (I was teaching in that department at the time I applied for the scholarship), she told me that I had a confi dential parcel at the main building (the administration block), which required only me to collect with my ident i f i ca-tion. I could not imagine where a par-cel of such importance would be co-ming from!! After the Ch r i s tmas break, when the offi ces had opened, I picked up my ID and headed for the main b u i l d i n g . When I got the parcel the fi rst thing I saw was that the language on the envelope was not English. I could not make sense out of it because it was some time since submission of the application.

You should have seen me opening the en-velope, I was shaking, then I read the fi rst sentence “with reference to your applica-tion--- I am glad---“ that was enough. My

Alumni Experiences

heart jumped, I had already read the word Austria, that was enough to ring a bell. A miracle had happened; I was to study for a PhD at Johannes Kepler University Linz. My dream had fi nally come true, the dream I had right after completing my Master’s Degree in Canada in 1992, followed by nu-merous applications to different universities, different countries had fi nally happened.

Although the date of commencement was open I had to do it at the earliest possi-ble, I did not want to waste any time, I had to register as a PhD student immediately, then I would know I am it. I had to put hold on numerous highly paying consultancies. I knew I had to get a PhD fi rst, and then other better things would follow.

In March 1999 I left for Austria; I had a good reception thanks to the head of the local branch offi ce in Linz, Andreas Szelegowitz, who received me at the airport. I was la-ter to be teased by my Ugandan colleagues that this was a gender issue; because for them they were not picked up (they were all men). I was settled in Julius Raab Heim, which I liked, although I did not like the

PhD Journey in Austria & Post-PhD activities

© oead

and provided excellent guidance to my work. They treated me with respect and groomed me into a patient researcher. Residing in the RAAB Heim International Students’ Hostel life in Linz was nice, no hassles, no chaos. In the whole period I lived in Linz I never heard a gun shot nor did I see people fi ght. Eve-rybody went about their business without bothering the others.

In-between my studies in Linz I did an internship at the World Bank in Washing-ton D.C. under the guidance of Dr. Klaus Deininger, a Lead Economist in the Bank. Klaus became another excellent and re-sourceful professor to me, exposing me to a whole new world of analytical, writing and presentation skills. Indeed, immedi-ately following my graduation from Linz I was recruited by the World Bank Uganda Country Offi ce as Economist, a position I occupied until February 2008. I then mo-ved on to the African Development Bank in Tunis, Tunisia where I worked as Principal Macroeconomist in the Results and Quality Assurance Department. In February 2009 I joined the United Nations Children’s Fund as Social Policy Manager in Kigali, Rwan-da. My work is very exciting and inspiring, knowing that my efforts are a contribution to improving the quality of life of children through research and providing support to policy development for the protection of their rights.

My life’s journey

Florence Nangendo

7


with another consultancy fi rm belonging to my former student, called Windsor Con-sult. Here we do projects ranging from re-search to training. Immediately after I left Bujagali I participated in the evaluation of the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) program. This is a government program intended to modernize agricul-ture in Uganda. People work in groups to learn new technologies under lead farmers.Currently we have two projects we are doing, one a study tracking down Donor support, which does not go through the Ministry of Finances and an Integrity study in the wa-ter sector supported by the World Bank. I have other projects lined up and I feel busy. Meanwhile I have a dream going into the direction of eco living; a mix of ecovillage + eco-tourism + education. I am attending an interesting course, Ecovillage training in Scotland at Findhorn Ecovillage, where I expect to acquire skills and knowledge in that direction. I am dreaming of setting up something where people can meet, live, re-lax, learn and connect with nature.

Finally I would like to thank the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) and all the OeAD staff. The PhD has opened many opportunities I can put on this page and I look forward to a brighter future.

classes where we would meet on a regular basis and bond. Ours were se-minars, which happened, people present and go away. There wasn’t much interest in other people’s business. The other pro-blem could have been the language barrier. Anyways I was comparing with my experience in Canada, where we were a class of 14, with two foreigners, me and another man from Poland. In this class every-one was interested in my wellbeing and everybody would wish to make me comfortable. We would meet occasionally for a drink after class; sometimes go for lunch as a whole class. I was invited to their homes and socialized with their families, too. This one I missed in Austria!!

Nevertheless, I had a smooth run through my course and I am happy I fi nished my PhD in record time. When I came back to Uganda I joined Uganda Martyrs University, a Catholic University situated 70 km south of Kampala. I taught in the department of Development Studies both undergraduate and Master’s students. In 2007 I wanted to change from academic to development practice. I joined a company constructing one of the biggest dams in Africa, 250 MW on River Nile near Lake Victoria. I worked as a Team Leader Social Unit. I was respon-sible for the resettlement activities of the people displaced by the dam in eight vil-lages; to restore their livelihoods. The pro-ject is sponsored by a number of banks, led by the World Bank. Below are some of the pictures.

It was a good experience, but not challen-ging enough, so I quit at the end of last year and headed for private practice. I have a consultancy fi rm known as Deve-lopment Support Consult. I work closely

sharing of the kitchen (fortunately after the fi rst semester I got a self contained room). I was always the only one cooking and peo-ple would wonder why I cook every day. I would explain to them that there were ba-sically two reasons; in Africa we have to eat lunch and supper and we eat food. Food means you cook something solid and sauce as a separate dish. Secondly, I could not afford to eat out every day.

I did not have much of a cultural shock ha-ving been to other developed countries be-fore, mainly Canada, where I spent a year doing a Master’s Degree, and short courses in the UK and Sweden. I had a warm wel-come from the Ugandans I found; Dr. Ber-nard Bamuhiiga and Dr. Peter Atekyereza, including others from Tanzania. I enjoyed their company, we used to have dinners to-gether and talk about Uganda and the rest of Africa. We would meet at Bernard’s place (he was the oldest), we used to call him our LC (stands for Local Council chairman, the leader of the village in Uganda). That would make days move, and cure some homesick-ness.

My academic life was excellent, thanks to my professors; o.-Univ.-Prof. Dr. Klaus Za-potoczky and his assistant Dr. Holly Heinz (RIP). My professor died immediately after I left Linz (May his soul rest in eternal peace). He was a good professor, always available, he understood that I had two young child-ren I had to return to as fast as possible and that I had to do the PhD in the shortest time allowed, he availed himself to assist me whenever I needed him. He would say “Florence I know you want to go back home to your family, I will do everything possible to facilitate that” and he would say this with a smile. Prof. Zapotoczky was always rea-dy with answers when consulted, I am also most grateful.

On a more personal and social level, I will be honest, I did not socialize with Austrians. This was a missed opportunity. This could be partly because we did not have structured

Alumni ExperiencesPhD Journey in Austria & Post-PhD activities

Facilitating a group of women to identify their development needs, using

Participatory Rural Appraisal methods.

8


entrance there are two wooden statues of a King and a Queen indicating royalty.

After a short rest we start the steep ascent to Blaschek Warte on top of the Ewige Wand but intermittently ask ourselves the question, “pole pole oder poleo?” (“Pole pole” is Swahili for “slowly”; “oder” is Ger-man for “or”; “poleo” is Thai for “stop”. ‘Pole pole oder poleo?’ which translates to: Do we move on slowly or stop?). Upon arrival at the Blaschek Warte a bigger view of the landscape below us unfolds. We now can see as far as the Hallstättersee and much of the Dachstein (2998 m) – the highest mountain in Upper Austria. The Traun River is also visible as it leaves the Hallstättersee and passes through the city of Bad Goisern through the Traun Valley.

We sign the visitors’ book at Blaschek War-te and proceed straight in the direction of the Predigstuhl. Route marks in Austrian fl ag colors remind us that we are on the way. None of us seems to have gotten en-ough admiration for nature as witnessed by the zeal with which we all continue to make our observations.

It is about 5.00 p.m. and yes, we have reached the peak of the Predigstuhl – the

Martin MARANI, PhD, KenyaLecturer, Department of Geography and Environmental studies at the University of Nairobi

Bad Goisern is a part of the Salzkam-mergut – a beautiful area in the provin-ce of Upper Austria. Towns such as Bad Ischl, Hallstatt and St. Wolfgang provide a blend of human civilization into the na-tural beauty. Predigstuhl (1278 m) is one of the peaks in an area that boasts many awesome mountain ranges, lakes, forests, valleys and above all a welcoming people. It is a popular destination for tourists, hi-kers, and bikers. With my colleagues, Ann and Ursula, from the University of Salzburg where I pursued my PhD under the North-South-Dialogue Scholarship Programme, we also decided to make it our choice of a hiking tour that would later provide an enduring but amazing experience.

Fast rewind: The day is Sunday, Septem-ber 4, 2005. We agree to start at Bad Goisern, climb to Ewige Wand (700 m) and eventually ascend to the Predigstuhl (1278 m), and then descend by a different route to Bad Ischl where we would catch the train back to our homes. We all look forward to this since for Ann and me, it is our maiden trip to the Predigstuhl.

At about 9:30 a.m. we embark on the fi rst part of the hike that takes us to Ewige Wand which means “forever”.We keep ascending while stopping several times to have a close look at trees, grasses, fl owers, rocks and the breathtaking fo-rest ecosystem and its canopy which seem to have evoked our fi elds of study. I am a geographer with a strong background in environmental studies while my two colleagues are biologists. Their in-terest in plants and ani-mals soon confi rms their

love for the subject. They get as close a view as pos-sible for anything that in-terests them. Ursula then suddenly shouts their bio-logical names which sound a little hard for me but I am obviously impressed by her fi ngertip grasp of the seemingly complex names. I am more interested in landscape, settlements, ri-vers, rocks, lakes and other geographical features than how specifi c – and many times tiny – plants and animals look like. Key route features such as magnifi cent wooden statutes of a woodpecker and an owl give us more expectations and ima-ginations of what we may see ahead in the now seemingly expansive forest. The forest atmosphere seems to declare “cate-ribus paribus” (all things are equal) here.

After about three hours since our start at Bad Goisern we arrive at Ewige Wand. It is a breath-taking rock system, perfectly de-signed and shaped by nature, and vertical-ly rising to about 100m from the arbitrary base point (where we were standing). The presence of embedded metal pins confi rms that Ewige Wand is a destination of rock climbers. At the base there is a cave in which a wood statue of a dangerous and fi re-spitting animal is placed. At the cave

A visit to the Preacher’s Chair – Der Predigtstuhl

Alumni Experiences

... see the Ewige Wand from Bad Goisern

... the way to the Predigstuhl soeaks loud and clear

9


fi rst stencil of his/her country’s national anthem.

It is already 8:30 p.m. when we start wal-king through Bad Ischl. The hike through Bad Goisern-Ewige Wand-Blaschek Warte-Predigstuhl-Bad Ischl circuit is complete and has taken us about 10 hours! It is challenging but the temptation of reaching the ‘preacher’s chair’ is unquenchable once one starts. At the railway station I begin to refl ect about the hike and a number of ex-plorers from my history lessons – Ludwig

Krapf, Vasco Da Gama, Rebmann, Vikings, and Christopher Columbus – quickly come to my mind. But can I be one? Isn’t our hike making the same geography that they made? I ask myself.

Unlike climbing, it is less energy-taking but with endless steeps that keeps one alert. It is while walking along this road extension that Ursula starts to sing a song (the three versions are dialectal German, Standard German and English, respectively):

In die Berg bin i gernUnd do gfreit si mei GmiatWo die Oimresal wo-ho-chsnUnd da Enzian blueht (repeat last two lines)

In den Bergen bin ich gerne,und da freut sich mein Ge-müt

wo die Almröserl wachsenund der Enzian blüht.

In the mountains I like to beAnd there my mind is happyWhere the Alpine roses are growingAnd the Gentian blooms.

This song is a timely motiva-tion because we all seem to

have become ti-red. The words are an exact re-fl ection of what we have done during the way up to the Predig-stuhl – enjoying the beauty and serenity of nature. I ask Ur-sula to sing it over and over again and we occasionally join her albeit with voices not as good as hers. We also agree that each one of us sings the

seat of the preacher. It is a small mountain but outstanding. From the top every view one makes in whichever direction can only be described in several tens of pages. It is a bird’s eye view from the ground. Once on top, the pain of climbing disappears and is replaced by the feeling of a disco-verer, maybe a conqueror.

Time is short for us and we have to make use of the extra evening summer sunlight to get back to base. At 5.30 p.m. we begin the descent in the direction of Bad Ischl.

Alumni ExperiencesA visit to the Preacher’s Chair – Der Predigtstuhl

... see the Ewige Wand from the arbitrary basepoint

... that is how I saw it when I arrived at Ewige Wand

... sunset as viewed from Bad Ischl

... dont forget to sign the visitors book at Ewige Wand in your

own language

10


faculty and students greatly enhanced my cultural and academic horizon. Sub-sequently, several linkages and networks were established some of which are active to date. Some of the linkages are: non-governmental organizations (e.g. Respect - Vienna, Biota - Germany), research orga-nizations (e.g. IUCN-Gland, Switzerland), and universities (Karlsruhe - Germany). It is worth pointing out that even though most doctoral courses and seminars were conducted in English I had the rare challen-ge of applying the basic German language I had learnt to a few courses that were in German language. This was indeed a great challenge but with time I overcame it.

Life back in Kenya

That the research and academic training inculcated into me while studying in Aus-tria adequately prepared me for the chal-lenges in my country, Kenya is no dispute. Nevertheless, the most imminent challen-ge was the re-integration into the society after a long period of about 38 months away. Having been used to a relatively effi cient system of service delivery that characterizes most developed countries one fi nds it diffi cult getting along in the developing world where services general-ly tend to be ineffi cient. Having a doctoral degree had many implications in my place of work (Kenya Institute of Administration). The employer had high expectations from

literacy then. Additionally, most of the people I met were not willing to engage me in a talk beyond a word of greeting. This left me in a very lonely condition. This gap was partly fi lled by a student from Kyrgyzstan who had a good com-mand of English. We could eat to-gether with him as we discussed general issues. Due to the loneli-ness I found myself calling home frequently to talk to my wife and children.

As I began to interact with col-leagues at the university I started making new acquaintances considering that I had also enrolled in a German language class. My interaction with the people and listening to their talks greatly improved my German language skills. Through my academic su-pervisor and the acquaintances I managed to know about the student social groups like the Afro-Asian Institute, church groups, among others. These social gatherings to-gether with student outings at Limnology

school in Mondsee quickly opened me up to many friends and my life soon changed. The loneliness was no more and instead I found it hard to cope with weekend appointments for church activities and visitation to meet friends.

Academic life

Back at the university where I had enrolled for a Doctoral degree in Natural Science (Geography) I had to undergo a paradigm shift in my computer skills and knowledge. I must admit that the students in the

Fachbereich Geography, Geology and Mine-ralogy were of immense help in upgrading my computer skills. They were ever willing to provide me with any clarifi cation or help with the computer. The nature, quality and scope of the doctoral programme were distinctively of high academic integrity. The multi-disciplinarity of the programme,

Oscar Ouma KAMBONA, PhDDepartment of Ecotourism, Hotel and Instituti-on ManagementMaseno University, Kenyawww.maseno.ac.ke/[email protected]

The fi rst few months in Austria

Long before coming to Austria I had only occasionally thought of the country in terms of the former UN Secretary General, Kurt Waldheim. As time went by I develo-ped a friendship with a colleague at work who had acquaintances with some Austri-ans in Nairobi. I slowly and steadily started developing interest in Austrian issues and it is from this friend that I got to know about the Austrian Academic Exchange Service through which I applied and got a North-South-Dialogue scholarship, fi nanced by the Austrian Development Cooperation to study in Salzburg, Austria.

My second day in Austria was surprising because it was a Sunday. I could not get into any supermarket on that day. Thanks

be to the youths walking along Alpenstra-ße that morning who directed me to a gas station where I bought snacks that formed my meals for that day. Generally, the fi rst three months in Austria were rather very lonely. Whether at the university or the stu-dent hall, it was very diffi cult communica-ting with the people due to my low German

My life in Austria and thereafter: Challenges and opportunities

Alumni Experiences

Social integration was a challenge. The author and his family six

months after returning from Austria, December 2005

The author socializing with local community members in his

village, December 2005

11


Lessons learned and the way forward

Having stayed and studied in Austria, the-re are many lessons that I have personal-ly learned. Some of these are highlighted below.

Cultural dimensionsAppreciation and acceptance of one’s cul-ture – during my 38 months of stay in Austria I interacted with over 20 different cultures from around the world. In most of the cases I learnt something new out of their culture. This has given me a greater fl exibility to appreciate and accept cultures different from mine.

Confi dence and hard workI greatly admired the confi dence and hard work that was demonstrated by my profes-sors and fellow students. They constantly encouraged and supported me during my doctoral studies at the university. This has enabled me to fi t so well in the university academic life where I currently work.

Friendship, linkages and networksThe habit of making new friends, establi-shing linkages and networks that started in Austria about 3 years ago is still with me. Whenever I visit other foreign countries I have always made new friends that most of the times have resulted in working part-nerships.

Way forward

Considering the varied expertise that al-ready exists within the OeAD Alumni it is possible that the expertise can be pooled together to help enhance and infl uence Austrian development co-operation agen-da within the framework of South-South development co-operation.

Community Peace Museum based in Mfangano Island in Lake Victoria. The museum is a gateway to the heritage of the Abasuba people. Its main aim is to promote and protect the cultural and natural heritage of the Abasuba people. The museum is being supported by the Trust for African Rock Art (TARA), National Museums of Kenya (NMK), and the European Union, among others.

Linkages and networks with Austrian universities are still ongoing. These

networks have been strengthened through joint student supervision. Already, Nicole, a student from Fachbereich Geography, Geology and Mineralogy, University of Salz-burg, recently (December 2008) completed a three-month fi eldwork study in Got Ra-mogi Forest. Nicole researched on Traditi-onal Ecological Knowledge aspects of the Got Ramogi Region. She is being jointly su-pervised by em. Prof. Chrictoph Stadel and myself. Through the networks created whi-le studying at Salzburg some of the experts at the Centre for Geo-information (ZGIS), University of Salzburg, have continued to show interest in expanding GIScience to developing countries such a Kenya. Just recently the University of Colon, DAAD and with the support of ZGIS managed to hold a south-south GIS summer school in LAOS where I participated (Refer to Figure 6). In this conference a great concern clearly emerged on enhancing GIScience learning and applications in developing countries.

me while in my heart I was seriously fee-ling that my expertise was seriously being underutilized. In spite of the promotions that were given to me at the Institute I had a strong scholarly urge that compelled me to join higher academic and research institutions in Kenya. In this way I got an appointment as a lecturer at the Depart-ment of Ecotourism, Hotel and Institution Management, Maseno University, in 2006. At the moment I am the acting head of the Department. The new job at the university not only meets my academic and research expectations but also constantly keeps me in touch with communities who are in dire need of university extension services.

Concerning community linkages and ex-tension services I have so far established linkages and worked with several commu-nity-based organizations in an attempt to provide them with practical skills on how to optimize the use of their resources, espe-cially those that are touristic in nature. Got Ramogi Forest Trust, Rural Institute of De-velopment and Abasuba Community Peace Museum are some of the community-based organizations just to mention a few that I am currently engaged with. For the Got Ra-mogi Forest Trust I have helped the com-munity to develop an ecotourism business plan. Using the plan, the European Union through the Tourist Trust Fund has funded the construction of low cost accommoda-tion facilities (eco-cottages) to promote ecotourism in the greater Got Ramogi regi-on. Besides this I also patron the Abasuba

My life in Austria and thereafter: Challenges and opportunities

Alumni Experiences

The author (in blue shirt) and colleagues at an International

Conference, September 2008.

Abasuba Community Peace Museum, Mfangano

Island which the author patrons

12


Yamirka ROJAS-AGRAMONTE, PhD, CubaInstitute for GeosciencesJohannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, Germany,E-mail: [email protected]

I came to Salzburg University, Austria, for the fi rst time as a visiting scientist in 1999-2000 and then again in the years 2001 to 2003, when I completed my doctoral dissertation. It all began in January 1999 when I contacted my future supervisor, Prof. Franz Neubauer, of the Department of Geology, Salzburg University, with a proposal for research in Cuba. He did not know any Cuban scientists at that time and had little knowledge of the detailed geology of Cuba but the project sounded interesting and therefore he invited me, with OeAD fi nancial support, to come initi-ally for one year as a visiting scientist. He later told me that this was to ensure that I was capable of doing research and to test my abilities as a scientist before embar-king on a full doctoral programme. What began after his fi rst e-mail reply was an intense and fruitful scientifi c relationship and cooperation that continues until to-day. My doctoral project was funded by a 3-year North-South-Dialogue scholarship and was concerned with the geological evolution of the Sierra Maestra mountain range located in Eastern Cuba. This region has been affected by historical earthqua-kes because of its proximity to the Oriente transform fault which separates the Carib-bean and North American plates.

I will never forget my fi rst weekend in Salzburg. I arrived by train on a cold and rainy Friday evening with no luggage (it was delayed!) but full of hopes. Fortuna-tely, Prof. Neubauer was waiting for me at the train station; he took me out for din-ner, brought me to the student residence, and even lent me some money. Neverthe-less, that fi rst weekend was the worst I have ever experienced! I was all by my-self, I did not know anyone, and in the city centre no-one wanted to speak English. I

suddenly felt so sad that I wanted to cry but I said to myself: if you start crying you will never stop. Then I realized that no-body was forcing me to be there, I was in Salzburg because I wanted to be there and because I wanted to learn; it was my responsibility to do something about it, somehow this realisation made me feel a little better.

I am a naturally talkative and curious per-son and so I decided that I had to learn German if I wanted people to talk to me (I wasn’t making much progress with En-glish!). Amazingly, my efforts with the lan-guage paid off; I made many friends from outside the university circle which also helped me to view Austrian life and culture from a different angle and perspective.

Salzburg opened the door to my scientifi c career

Alumni Experiences

13


Scientifi cally it was also a fairly steep learning curve. There were so many new things to learn and, most importantly, I had to learn all the particular techniques and methods which I would have to use in my project. This meant working for more than 18 hours a day occasionally. I partici-pated, for the fi rst time, in an international conference during my fi rst visit to Austria. It was the “Geology 2000” International meeting, held in Vienna from April 14-17. I would not have done this were it not for the insistence of my supervisor who told me that if I wanted the people to know what I was doing it was not enough to publish but to orally present (no posters!) the work at international meetings. Again he proved to be right! After that confe-rence my scientifi c career developed dra-matically. I met other people working in si-milar topics but, more importantly, people working in the Caribbean who later sent me bibliographies and even invitations to participate in future meetings.

For people coming from a tropical and humid climate it is always a challenge to come to terms with the European climate, in particular with the extreme winter con-ditions. The tropical thermometer of Ca-ribbeans always registers “freezing” with anything below 18 degrees Celsius!. The best medicine I found against cold winters and dark days was music (and not exact-ly Mozart!). As I was always dancing in the corridors of the Geology Department, my friends and colleagues thought I could teach them how to dance and so we es-tablished a routine. For two years, every Friday or Saturday evening, I taught my colleagues from the Department and other friends how to dance Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Lambada, etc., and what had begun as a joke became a must for all of us. It was one evening in the week when I could just forget everything and relax, laugh and dance; it was the same for the rest of the dancing group that sometimes numbered more than 15.

Cooperations between Cuban and German institutions

I consider Salzburg as one of the most beautiful places in Austria and I was lucky to have had the chance to live and work there. I am also proud to have the Univer-sity of Salzburg as my Alma Mater, as it was there that I learned to be a scientist and geologist. After three years of my doctoral studies I completed my dissertation with four scientifi c papers published in internati-onal journals. This curriculum helped me to get a prestigious Alexander von Humboldt fellowship at the Institute for Geosciences of the University of Mainz in Germany where I am now established.

Additionally I am an associated professor of two Cuban Universities, the Instituto Su-perior Minero Metalúrgico de Moa, Holguin and the Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echevarria, Havana, with which I still collaborate. I also have a Deutsche For-schungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) project in Cuba and therefore I come to the fi eld every year to my coun-try. The universities here in Cuba are ok but the main problem is the lack of infrastruc-ture to do the analysis for the rocks and mi-nerals, in any case my colleagues are very helpful and thanks to them I can come and work in the fi eld.

In March I attended a conference in Ha-vana and I held a pre-conference course for Cuban geologists about geochronology. Even though I am now in Germany I still continue working in my country and I have built cooperations between Cuban and Ger-man institutions.

Salzburg - Cuba

Alumni Experiences

Yordanka GLUHCHEVA, PhDAssistant ProfessorInstitute of Experimental Morphology and Anthropology with Museum (IEMAM) at the Bulgarian Academy of Science in Sofi a, Bulgaria

My name is Yordanka Gluhcheva and I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Differentiation at the Institute of Experimental Morphology and Anthropolo-gy with Museum (IEMAM) at the Bulgari-an Academy of Science in Sofi a, Bulgaria. My research interests are in the fi eld of hematology – stem and progenitor cells, bone marrow, etc. I study the effects of different substances on cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis both in vivo and in vitro. In my home institution I am a Research Group leader. My colleagues and I study the regulatory mechanisms of he-matopoiesis in mammals and humans.

I have been a holder of an Ernst Mach Scholar-ship for young scientists twice. My last scholar-ship was for two months (01.10 – 30.11.2008) in the Division of Biological Chemistry, Biocen-ter, Medical University Innsbruck, working in the group of Prof. Dietmar Fuchs.

Bulgaria

14


I returned to my home insti-tution with a lot of ideas for future work. My home insti-tution (IEMAM) is a leading national institute in experi-mental morphology, cell bio-logy, neuromorphology and anthropology.

In the fi eld of experimental morphology the control me-chanisms of cell proliferation and differentiation in repro-ductive and blood tissues are

studied by application of experimental ani-mal models and clinical investigation - re-gulatory role of hormones, local and growth factors and their receptors are evaluated. The role of growth factors on digestive sy-stem development in experimental animals is investigated; optimal regiments for tissue cryoprotection are explored; methods for fl uorescent cyto- and histochemical enzyme localization are developed.

In the fi eld of Neuromorpho-logy studies are carried out on the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, of some prion central nervous system diseases, on cerebral ischemia and on the functio-nal morphology of blood-brain barrier.

In the realm of anthropology investigations include: studying of the changes and regularities in the anthropological characte-rization of the Bulgarian popu-lation; studying development, acceleration and deceleration; medical-anthropological characterization of patients suffering from different diseases; studying of the bone re-mains from necropolis in the country.

Our scientists participate in a wide range of educational and research activities. They work on research projects funded by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Sci-

There I carried out biochemical assays on samples which I brought from my home institution. The samples were blood sera from mice treated with cobalt chloride. The aim of the study was to fi nd out the effect of cobalt on some biochemical parameters such as tryptophan degradation and nitrite/nitrate concentrations in the serum of mice treated with cobalt. The experimental ani-mals were in different stages of develop-ment which will allow us to determine the stages in which animals are more suscepti-ble to heavy metal exposure. Cobalt is not only a heavy metal but it is also a nutritio-nal supplement as well as an environmental pollutant, therefore its effect on animals and humans is an important issue. During my work in the lab I learned new methods that will be used in my future research work.

Besides the research lab work I also at-tended core courses for PhD students and university seminars with guest lecturers which helped me to broaden my theore-tical knowledge. I had meetings with peo-ple from other labs who were willing to share their experience with me.

During my stay I made new friends from different countries, learned a lot about other places and cultures, tried different cuisines. I also visited a lot of the famous places in Austria (in Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck) which are emblematic for this country. I learned a lot about the history of Austria while visiting museums, cathe-drals, etc.

OeAD Scholarship – knowledge, new ideas and experiences

Alumni Experiences

ence, FP7. Also, they are involved in inter-national collaborative grants and undertake fellowships abroad funded by the Royal Society and The Welcome Trust in the UK, DAAD, Alexander von Humboldt in Germa-ny, INSERM in France, Rockefeller Founda-tion in the USA, etc.

The established collaborative work with the Austrian partners will continue as part of a joint research project which has been recen-tly accepted for fi nancing (for 36 months) by the Bulgarian National Science Fund. The Austrian partners will carry out the bioche-mical assays – neopterin production and tryptophan degradation in blood sera and cell culture supernatants.

The obtained results will be published as joint publications in peer-reviewed journals and will be presented at different scientifi c meetings – conferences and workshops.

The established collaboration can be used for future joint research project propo-sals in different national and EU funded research programmes such as COST, FP7, etc. in the thematic priorities Health and Environment.

15


Romina BRASCAG.A. Fester Laboratory, Department of Chemistry. FIQ-UNL, CONICETSanta Fe, Argentina

Every time I remember the marvellous moments that I spent in Graz, it makes me take a break and smile. My stay in Europe is one of the most unforgettable memories of my life.

My background

My name is Romina Brasca. I was born in 1981 in Santa Fe, a city which is located in the mid-east of Argentina. I completed my bachelor studies in 2006 and I started to teach Organic Chemistry to undergradua-te students. In 2007 I was awarded a doc-toral fellowship by the National Council of Scientifi c and Technical Research (CONI-CET), a government agency whose main function is the promotion of science and technology in Argentinean universities and institutes. Thus I am carrying out a re-search project in the area of Organic Che-mistry at the Chemical Engineering School of the Universidad Nacional del Litoral.

My study project refers to the synthesis of carbonated and heterocarbonated struc-

The culture and lifestyle are very in-teresting and surprising. The organisation is splendid, in the city everything is placed in the correct form. The buses and trams are always punctual and it is allowed to go with pets. In all the open spaces there are rubbish bins with some plastic bags for putting your pet’s dirt. This way of life is fantastic, I really look up to the Austrian people and love this beautiful and peace-ful city.

I met a few colleagues at the university but I did not have the opportunity to make friends because of the absence of chances to integrate the scholars into the universi-ty system. I wish the OeAD had organized cultural trips around the city in order to allow the scholars to share experiences. Fortunately I made close contacts with some students from the student house. Thanks to Tina, Christina, Jan, Lisa, Ka-tharina and Jinyoung for the good times and for being so friendly and kind.

During the scholarship I was trained at the Institut für Chemie, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz under the guidance of Dr. Fabian.

tures through the Thermal Diels-Alder (D-A) Reaction. The main objective is the development of natural products, industri-ally important substances and biologically active compounds by chemical basic mo-

difi cations of the reaction pro-ducts.

An important part of my pro-gramme is the theoretical cha-racterization of the D-A reaction mechanism but the problem is that in my home institution Com-putational Chemistry is not a usu-al fi eld of study or research. So, I decided to contact Dr. Walter Fabian and to apply for an “Ernst Mach Stipendium”. Fortunately I was granted a 3-month scholar-ship for the academic year 2008.

I would like to express my grati-tude to the Austrian Federal Mi-nistry of Science and Research

(BMWF) and the OeAD for giving me the possibility to stay in Graz in the framework of a research programme. I also would like to thank Dr. Fabian very much for provi-ding me the opportunity to carry out the research project in his group and for his constant help.

Personal and professional experiences during my stay in Austria

My stay in Graz was a very exciting expe-rience for me, it was my fi rst time in Euro-pe. During the fi rst few weeks it was no easy for me to settle be-cause of the language barrier but fi nally I got used to my new way of life.

Hundreds of great memories to cherish

Alumni Experiences

The host institution in Austria: Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz

16


I performed theoretical calculations con-cerning the D-A reaction mechanism in or-der to combine these results with the ex-perimental ones (obtained in Argentina). This will lead us to a better understanding of the cycloaddition reactions. I was also allowed to attend and participate in some seminars.

Undoubtedly, the valuable experiences that I acquired have contributed to my personal and professional development. The research experience has contributed a lot to increase my interest in the fi eld of Computational Chemistry and now I want to learn more about that promising subject. I am completely satisfi ed with the academic supervisor guidance and with the OeAD support.

The publication of an article with the re-sults obtained under the programme is still in process. I am looking forward to the publication.

Professional experiences in Argentina

When I returned to my home University I completed the PhD obligatory courses and began with the development of my thesis’ experiments.

I have shared the knowledge gained duri-ng the scholarship with my colleagues and students. Based on my research results my group is very interested in investiga-ting more D-A reactions from a theoretical point of view.

I hope that I will obtain my PhD degree in Chemistry in 2011.

Thanks OeAD for providing the former scholarship holders a platform for exchan-ging experiences and opinions.

Cezary PIECZETOWSKIBrussels Innovation Centre,Procter & Gamble [email protected]

First of all I would like to express how happy I am to have the opportunity to share with you my experiences gained in the past 3 years. This is also one of the best possibilities to say thank you to all the people who helped me a lot during my stay in Vienna.

Why Vienna?

As a student at the International Faculty of Engineering at the Technical University of Lodz (Poland) I was given the opportunity to go for the Erasmus students’ exchange to one of the European universities after my second year of studies (Mechanical Engineering).

As my studies in Poland were carried out fully in English I wanted to attend courses conducted in another language. That is why with basic knowledge of German I decided to go to Vienna.

New home for a long time

I spent three years (2006-2008) in the amazing capital of Austria.

The fi rst semester at Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) was not easy – new place, new people, new language. As an Erasmus student I searched for the sub-jects that would broaden my knowledge in different areas. It was a perfect time for experimenting, looking for the lec-tures that would be really interesting to me. This curiosity and desire to learn led me to the Institute of General Physics and Prof. Friedrich Aumayr, who, together with Dr. Ille Gebeshuber, offered me a priceless opportunity to work on front end innova-tion using the fi nest scanning technology available. It is a unique feeling when you see the single atoms on the screen for the fi rst time.

In my fi rst project I was investigating sur-faces covered with nanostructures created by atomic collisions. In the other assign-ment I was discovering the infl uence of different chemicals on the friction force between the sample and scanning tip.

At that point I decided to continue my adventure with Physics, so I started to search for a scholarship that could help me carry on my responsibilities.

The Austrian Student Scholarship was just initiated by the Mondi Private Foundation and luckily I was one of the fi rst candi-dates to be accepted for this program. For an additional two years I was given the possibility to continue my passion for ex-

Memories...

Alumni ExperiencesClimbing up the hill

HOPG single atoms

17


bility for the project and a lot of freedom in fulfi lling the ob-jectives.

I was given a very limited time to research the state-of-the-art technology, perform validation tests and make recommenda-tions to higher management.

These 11 weeks at P&G gave me truly diverse experience: negotiation with suppliers, discussion with various inter-nal specialists, managing time

and project resources.

Where am I now?

The article has been written in a small town close to Brussels.After fi nishing my studies at TU Wien I de-cided to continue my adventure with P&G in Belgium.

The variety of tasks and unexpected com-plications I am facing during the day is the reason why I decided to work in this company.

Cooperation with various people all around the world, managing development pro-jects in fast changing environment create situations where I have to come up with new ideas, strategies, approaches almost instantly.

Additional experiences like settling down in a new country, learning a new language and visiting new places are the things that make me wake up every morning with ex-actly the same question in my mind: ‘What will happen today?’.

I would like to thank again Mondi Private Foundation, the Institute of General Phy-sics, the OeAD and all the people who hel-ped me fulfi ll my educational and personal goals in Vienna.All the best and good luck.

periments and start concurrent studies at TU Wien – Industrial Management.

Although it was not easy to attend lec-tures, perform experiments and in parallel coach interns at the institute I found it re-ally encouraging and exciting to success-fully deal with all these sorts of tasks.

Apart from the university responsibilities I attended meetings organized by members of Mondi Foundation, with whom I could easily share my problems, thoughts and ideas.

I also had some time to take part in the social & night life of Vienna: Erasmus eve-nings, summer concerts and museum ex-hibitions.

One of the biggest benefi ts of the city and its location was the variety of sports I could enjoy: climbing, ice-skating, skiing, etc.

Beyond Vienna

Although my calendar was packed with a variety of different activities the desire for new challenges was much stronger. After a series of interviews I was offered an internship (summer 2008) in one of the Procter & Gamble (P&G) Research & De-velopment Centers in England.

What amazed me was the fact that literally from the fi rst day I received full responsi-

A success story of Partnership between Austria and Pakistan for Developing Strong Edu-cation and Research linkages through the support of Higher Education Commission Isla-mabad-Pakistan

Muhammad Mushahid ANWAR (PhD)Assistant Professor, Link CoordinatorDepartment of GeographyThe Islamia University of Bahawalpur-PakistanE-mail: [email protected]

Introduction

I am Muhammad Mushahid Anwar, current-ly working as an Assistant Professor and International link coordinator in the De-partment of Geography at The Islamia Uni-versity of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. I am proud to introduce myself here as an OeAD alum-nus. I got a North-South-Dialogue Scholar-ship, fi nanced by the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) for my Doctoral Studies in Urban Ecology from 2003-2006. I com-pleted my PhD at the Department of Geo-graphy and Geology at Salzburg University of Austria under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jürgen H. Breuste. Soon after the comple-tion of my studies the Higher Education Commission (HEC) offered me a working place here in Pakistan. I joined the Envi-ronmental Sciences Department at COM-SATS Institute of Information Technology

Research PartnershipClimbing up the hill

Alumni Experiences

Climbing in the centre of Vienna

18



Abbottabad-Pakistan. After serving there for about a year I joined the Islamia Uni-versity of Bahawalpur-Pakistan in the Geo-graphy Department as Assistant Professor and Head of the Department. I contacted my parent Department here in Austria be-cause being the head of the Department I had given priorities to strengthening the Department not only academically but also uplifting it through advanced technologies such as GIS Lab, etc. It was very kind of my PhD supervisor Prof. Dr. Jürgen H. Breuste that he made a collaboration agreement with me and according to this agreement we will help each other by exchanging re-search students, joint research projects and also supported by literature. I conclu-ded another agreement with Prof. Dr. Josef Strobel for the UNIGIS online program, through this program we provide MSc and Diploma certifi cates there in Pakistan.

A success collaboration story

Meanwhile the Higher Education Commis-sion Islamabad asked to submit proposals for an International Linkages program bet-ween Pakistani and foreign universities. I submitted one proposal from the Depart-ment of Geography, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur Pakistan and the Depart-ment of Geography and Geology, Salzburg University of Austria of about 11.96 Million Pak Rs. After evaluation my proposal was awarded, it has three folds; the fi rst part is Joint/Split PhD Studies (3 Years local +

Research partnership between Austria and Pakistan

1 Year abroad) – Joint Supervisor.

In this part the Depart-ment of Geography The Islamia University of Bahawalpur can send at least three PhD students for doing their research and course work at Salzburg University. In this connection we are sending two students Mr. Khalil-ur-Rahman and Mr.

Sher Muhammad Malik this year in spring semester 2009 for a year. Next year, in March 2010, the third student, Mr. Sajid Noor, will go for one year.

Joint research project

In the second part of this program we have a Joint Research project “Urban Water ma-nagement in Arid Zone” (UrWaMAZ), this project lasts for two years (2009-2010). For details on this project please see article on page X.

Faculty visits

The third part of the program is faculty vi-sits (2+2) faculty members can visit under this program and will stay for one week for getting new visit and experiences in their relevant fi eld of interest. First year visits already have been completed from both sides.

The cooperation between the De-partment of Geography, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, and the De-partment of Geography and Geology, Salzburg University Austria, brings a lot of research activities and fruit-ful collaboration. CeLaRe (Center of Landscape Research) is one of the examples. This center is situated at Salzburg University but now it reaches to The Islamia University of Bahawal-pur-Pakistan.

Second success story

With the help of the vice-chancellor of The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Prof. Dr. Belal A. Khan, the Geography Department become a member of HERODOT Geography Organization of Liverpool Hope University, UK. This organization organized an event “The Big Hope Global Youth Congress” held at Liverpool at Hope University, UK between June 4th and 11th, 2008, in which they as-ked for papers. We submitted four papers including myself and one of my students and three other faculty members of the Geography Department in this competition and we got fi ve fully paid scholarships. Here the important thing which is noticeable that The Big Hope Global Youth Congress gave 16 scholarships on selective papers around the world and 5 of these the Department of Geography, The Islamia University had got.

Prof. Dr. Belal A. Khan (Vice-Chancellor) PhD students (Left: Mr. Sher Muhammad Malik, Center: Mr. Sajid

Noor and Right: Mr. Khalil-ur-Rahman)

Dr. Mushahid Anwar & Mr. Sajid Noon

19


future development. Univ.Prof. Dr. Juer-gen Breuste (Salzburg) and Ass.-Prof. Dr. Mushahid Anwar (Bahawalpur) lead the project work. The goal is to prepare the water management authorities of Baha-walpur for the coming challenges of water supply (growing consumption, decrease of groundwater resources, climate chan-ge) and to develop a model which can be used for other cities in arid zones with similar conditions and problems. The pro-ject ends in March 2010.

If you’re interested in further information about this project, please contact:

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Juergen Breuste, Head of the project UrWaMAZe-mail: [email protected]

Ass.-Prof. Dr. Mushahid Anwar, Head of the project UrWaMAZe-mail: [email protected]

Water - Precious resource in a Pakistani desert city

Daniela GRAF and Mushahid ANWAR

The project title is UrWaMAZ – Urban Wa-ter management in Arid Zones –and the research team consists of scientists and students from Pakistan and Austria. The research area Bahawalpur is situated clo-se to the Cholistan desert in the Punjab region of Pakstan. It is a city with 600 000 inhabitants and an annual growth rate of 4.9%. A hot and dry climate, high popu-lation pressure and the climate change –

the increase of the pres-sure on the valuable and vital resour-ce water is huge.

Members of the Depart-ment of Ge-ography of the Islamia Un i ve r s i t y Bahawalpur along with the AG Stadt- und Land-s c h a f t s o -e k o l o g i e ( S a l z b u r g Univers i ty, Austria) in-v e s t i g a t e the present situation of water supply in Bahawal-pur and de-velop scena-rios on the

Water - Precious resource in Pakistan


Book Publications

Urban Environmental ManagementEdited by Abha Lakshmi Singh and Shahab

Fazal, New Delhi, B. R. Pub., 2008

ISBN 81-7646-626-3

Chapter No. 9: Urban green in Karachi, Paki-

stanMohd. Mushahid Anwar and Juergen H.

Breuste.

An Investigation of Public Parks and Life Quality in Karachi, PakistanUrban Ecology, 2008, Dr. Mushahid Anwar

Published by VDM, Germany

ISBN 978-3-8364-8705-4

Publications

Members of the project UrWaMAZ

Islamia University Bahawalpur

20


Student ExperiencesCan socio-economic aspects fi ll the gaps in water research?

David BAGUMA, UgandaPhD student Institute of Hydraulics and Rural Water Management, BOKU

I’m an economist and development expert from civil society in Uganda, working with an NGO-Integrated family development Initiative (IFDI) as water-project coordina-tor. After completing my fi rst degree and master program at Makerere University in Kampala I have gained wide experience in development work through implementing programmes from institutions such as World Vision Uganda, EU-micro projects and DENIVA.

Currently I’m undertaking my doctorate, fi nanced by the North-South-Dialogue Scholarship programme at the Institute of Hydraulics and Rural Water Management, BOKU-University in Vienna, supervised by Prof. W. Loiskandl and advisers; I. Darn-hofer, M. Hauser and H. Jung.

My doctorate research is on rural household rainwater management in Ug-anda. Households all over the world har-vest rainwater, i.e. in Asia, America, Eu-rope and Africa, and people have always harvested rainwater from time immemo-

rial. Indeed, rain drops just fall from the sky onto a wide surface, usually roof iron sheet or wide area and the water is har-vested into the container (Tank) through gutters.

My study is includes, among others, the premise that water is fundamental to life; on which everybody in the past, present and future depends. Unfortunately, water is at the same time a threat to livelihood. For instance, according to WHO reports between one and two million children still die each year from diseases directly related to water and sanitation. These di-seases, especially combined with malnu-trition, weaken the body’s defences and contribute to other causes of deaths. Yet water remains a human necessity for all ages. Consider for example some of the unhealthy dirt observed and found in one of the tanks in rural Luwero.

My study in addition to analysing wa-ter impacts on health and livelihoods includes distribution and shortage challenges. This is mainly because where the infrastructure is poor and areas inaccessible water harvesting has been adopted as an appropriate technology.

Besides the growing need for cash incomes and water for the countless communities, which causes gre-at hardship to families in particular women and girls who must spend many hours each day collecting water from di-

stant sources is evident; these and others are included in the research.

By using economic and statistical models I to attempt to fi ll the gaps left previous-ly by other disciplines (architects, micro-biologists, engineers, etc.) in rural water research: Extend it to socio-economic aspects. I am analysing and establishing more insights. Part of my work has been submitted for peer-review and later publi-cation. Coupled with a passion for issues related to development work, resource management and zealous to work towards social transformation. My interest in futu-re among others includes domestic water research, networks, and capacity building for NGOs, monitoring and evaluation of donor projects.

household rainwater management in Uganda

Water harvested into the container (Tank) through gutters

Collecting water from distant sources is evident

21


Steven Labongo Constantine LOUMPhD student at the Faculty of Cultural and Social Anthropology, University of Vienna

Background

My background is in the fi eld of nutrition with work experience as a Nutritionist in a government referral hospital; while exe-cuting my tour of duty in northern Uganda where a vicious civil war had been on for almost 20 years the state of health care in my district and the region at large was pretty grim. The problem of malnutrition was at its peak by the year 1995-2000; I worked to develop a nutrition unit within the hospital to stem the death of children from preventable malnutrition. While we work on the children to control high death rates the phenomenon of failure to thrive in the children kept on recurring; I and the team of nurses gave the best we could for the affected children but in a few cases, and more were occurring with time, they did not respond to the treatment given, i.e. antibiotics for respiratory tract infec-tions, pneumonia, measles, etc.

It became clear that there were some other underlying factors preventing the

children to respond to our nutrition and treatment therapy.

We embarked on discussing the problem of these children, and with the Doctor in the house, TB was diagnosed as one key suspect but with time HIV/AIDS was the major factor affl icting the children.

The above experience led me to get in-terested in researching on matters relating to HIV/AIDS in children. That is when I got in touch with my research promoter, I was selected and I am now fulfi lling my desire to contribute to knowledge creation and dee-pening in the fi eld of paediatric HIV/AAIDS.

HORIZONT3000, an Austrian NGO working in the area of development cooperation was very instrumental in facilitating my successful application to obtain the scholarship; I pay special tribute to Mr. Ibrahim Kizito, the ve-teran staff in the Horizont offi ce in Kampala and Irene Mayanja at the Austrian Consulate in Kampala for a job well done.

Development Cooperation

The Development Cooperation between Uganda and Austria began way back in 1985, when some Austrian picked interest in the political situation in Uganda, and by 1988 some Austrians privately came to carry development work in Uganda in the town of Fort Portal; and thus began the actual work of the Austrian development cooperation, which led to the opening of the current consulate. The Austrian offi ce for Development Cooperation was subse-quently opened, which to date manages the development programmes in Kenya and Tanzania.

The HORIZONT3000 program focuses its work around those people that count as poorest and most disadvantaged groups in their respective countries and who usually live in rural areas, and these are areas that often lack basic in-frastructure in health and education and are characterised by a weak civil society.

The programs are grounded on four main areas i.e. rural development – stabilisation of living conditions; health – improvement of basic health services as well as health educa-tion; education – improvement of education opportunities; civil society, human rights, democracy – strengthening of civil society structures and empowerment of minority groups through assertion of their rights.

HORIZONT3000 indeed operates in all these four sectors in Uganda, for examp-le: In the Luwero district near the capital city there is the integrated rural develop-ment programme, instrumental in suppor-ting farmers’ organisation for sustainable agriculture; in far north in Gulu there is support for education and civil society development, while in the north again in Kitgum there is a strong support to Kit-gum hospital in major upgrade to improve services to the rural poor affected by the civil insurgency.

So by combining the development initiati-ves and research opportunities to unlock the problem of the rural poor the link of the Austrian Development Cooperation, Horizont 3000, and us, the North-South-Dialogue Scholars from Uganda and other countries, there is clearly a direct benefi t to human development. My research in the fi eld of HIV/AIDS at the Faculty of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Univer-sity of Vienna is testimony to the good relation and unity of purpose to promote development in the south.

In conclusion, as a North-South-Dialogue scholar I do appreciate the development cooperation and hope more opportunities will be created for those in real need to empower them at community level to live a better and humane life. Long live Ugan-da-Austria Development Cooperation.

www.horizont3000.at/index.php?m=154&l=en

Student ExperiencesDevelopment partnership/cooperation between Uganda and Austria

22


From Africa to Europe in search of the career needs

Student Experiences

Emanuel MARTINMSc student, Management of Protected Areas (MPA), University of Klagenfurt

Born 31 years ago along the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, I never thought that one day I could be in Europe, especially in Austria. Currently I am pur-suing the MSc programme Management of Protected Areas (MPA) at the University of Klagenfurt under the One-World Scholar-ship Programme.

It was during my O-level studies when we went on a study tour in Lake Manyara Na-tional Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) in the northern part of Tanza-nia; I started to develop some interest and passion regarding wildlife and envi-ronment. The trip was like an eye opener of my future career, I was so impressed by the ranger of NCA who could professional-ly explain to us the behaviors of wildlife and their habitats.

In 1999, after successfully fi nishing my A-level studies, I was among a group of at least 60 students who formed a class of the just newly introduced three-year wildlife management degree course at

Sokoine University of Agriculture in Moro-goro – Tanzania. To me this was another milestone towards achieving my future career as a wildlife expert or conservati-

onist. The course was so perfect for me as it involved one of my best hobbies – travel-ling amongst other things. We used to travel extensively for excursions and fi eld practical trai-nings in various national parks in Tanzania and the neighboring coun-try – Kenya.

In November 2002 I was conferred my fi rst degree in Wildlife Manage-

ment alongside my colleagues. It was in-deed a ceremonial event, everyone was dancing and enjoying and so did I.

However, in my mind a lot of thoughts were going on, about the new life in the street, no more government stipends, where to get jobs and any “evils” associated with this. In May 2003 I got a volunteer job to go and work in Botswana in a small park called Mokolodi Nature Reserve. Getting international exposure in the fi eld of my career was another exciting moment for me, after successfully fi nishing the volun-teer program I then got hired by the same organization on a permanent basis as a Conservation Offi cer. The post I served for four years.

During the fourth year of my service in the organization I began to think about further studies and widening my experience. I sent several applications to various univer-sities in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Botswana. Meanwhile my friend from the UK also sent me a link for a Master’s

Degree Program in Management of Pro-tected Areas offered at the University of Klagenfurt in Austria, for which I also fi led my application. Of all the institutions to which I made applications, three offered me admission but only the University of Klagenfurt seemed to have a better deal for me and therefore I opted for it. In July 2007 I had to make a diffi cult decision to drop my job and come to Austria for stu-dying. The decision, which honestly spea-king I do not regret as it offered me an opportunity to be exposed to a different world compared to Africa, with a different culture, different ways of life and different climatic conditions.

Since my arrival in September 2007 I now have almost one and a half years in Aus-tria. I am looking forward to fi nishing my studies in July 2009. From October 2008 to January 2009 I went to Tanzania to do a fi eld research for my thesis. The research was all about understanding the factors responsible for the absence of African li-ons in Arusha National Park. I believe that the fi ndings from my research will not only help to conserve these magnifi cent crea-tures but also help the management of Arusha National Park in Tanzania to take appropriate actions in managing wildlife in the area. In line with my stay in Europe I would like to thank the University of Kla-genfurt and the Austrian Development Co-operation (fi nancing the One World Scho-larship) for making it all possible for me.

23


Supervisor Experiences

On March 19th the OeAD organised for the fi rst time an exchange of experiences and discussion between scholars and supervi-sors of the North-South-Dialogue Scholar-ship Programme. This event was jointly organised with the North-South-Dialogue Council of Scholars (NSD-CS). Please fi nd below the speech of Georg Gratzer, Insti-tute of Forest Ecology, BOKU, who presen-ted his experiences as a supervisor.

Georg GRATZER

There are two diametric entry points into the role of a supervisor of North-South-Dialogue scholars: one is that research projects are carried out in countries of the South already and potential students are selected in the course of carrying out research; the other one is that we are contacted by prospec-tive students. These contacts may meet re-search interests which were not manifested in projects so far. Particularly for the second entry point, one of the major challenges for supervisors is the extremely slim fi nancial support of supervisors through the North-South-Dialogue scheme (only one journey and for this journey only the cheapest fl ights available and, even more surprisingly, there is no support for overnight stays at all).

The support in terms of research costs is so small that it is nearly inevitable to get additional project money for a study from a different source. This needs additional work input from the supervisor’s side and, even if successful, leaves us with diffi culties of ali-gning the schedules of the thesis with those of the project. All in all, there is strong cross-funding of North-South-Dialogue grants and a lot of in-kind support from our side necessary in order to maintain quality of the education and to reach relevance of the re-search conducted. Particularly in a situation of increasing commercialisation of universi-ties this lack of fi nancial support leads to an increasing unwillingness of supervisors to accept students. Even if there is willingness to accept these conditions, we are confron-ted with an increasing pressure to justify

our activity. Supervising students from de-veloping countries and doing research the-re may also feed back on our publication record and on the nature of our research. In order to reach relevance we may have to compromise the high-end basic research approaches for a more application-oriented and thus maybe less publishable approach. Using high end research equipments may be impossible and this then also feeds back on our records.

That leaves the question why we do super-vise North-South-Dialogue scholars: this has of course a personal but also a structural component. We may be motivated by social responsibility but the question is how long we can maintain this in environments where we have to show our “browny points” in terms of third party funds and “well ranked” scientifi c papers. The question if research for develop-ment (R4D) is on the agenda of a university matters in this context and may somewhat buffer these pressures. In the case of univer-sities such as BOKU R4D fi ts the overall vision of the University which is also refl ected by the fact that the BOKU now has a Centre of Development Research at the level of a de-partment. Such institutions may be of great help in coordinating and supporting supervi-sion of North- South Dialogue students.

If all the challenges of working in develo-ping countries are accepted, we enter a communication and education process with the grant holder. Supervision of North-South Dialogue grant holders has certain specifi ci-ties and deviates from supervision of doc-toral students from our home country: one of the major differences to most doctoral students from Austria may be that the stu-dents may have been holders of prestigious jobs in their Governments or research insti-tutions. Prospective students may also ex-pect to be treated exclusively and, at least, to get due recognition in terms of availabi-lity of time for them. The supervisor’s life at the home university, however, differs largely from what students may expect and from what they may have experienced

during supervisor visits in their countries. We are stressed, we only have limited time for them and we expect them to be able to work autonomously. It is important to pre-pare the prospective students to this shock. Here it is highly advantageous to always have a group of students from one country at different stages of their studies. This may also decrease problems of homesickness. Hierarchy is, in my opinion, generally one of the major challenges in dealing with North-South Dialogue grant holders, also in terms of treatment of administrative staff at our institutes by the grant holders.

Another aspect, also connected with hierar-chy, is that many students defi ne the role of the supervisor more close to what we called “doctoral father”. This means that the role of supervision is seen more holistic and the responsibility we hold is even greater, also in terms of giving examples. If we are success-ful in supervision, which means that the stu-dent successfully fi nishes his or her studies, the question of “what’s next” arises for the new doctor. Clearly we like to see our new alumni doing the work they were trained for and doing it in their home countries.

This leads us to the question of how much remains in the respective countries and the question if we only build individual careers or also institutions. From my personal expe-rience with our long-term research partner-ship with a research institution in Bhutan where we integrate the students into a lar-ger partnership framework I do see a great potential in such integrations and combina-tions. This was discussed at the ADA and the OeAD and in the future funding for such partnerships will be available. This will be a milestone for enhancing the value of indivi-dual North-South Dialogue grants to a more visible impact in the respective countries.

With this I would like to close but not wi-thout acknowledging the immense perso-nal dedication of the OeAD staff and their helpfulness in many issues connected with everyday life of our students.

Experiences of a supervisor: North-South-Dialogue Scholarship Programme

24


In its second priority area, the Justice, Law and Order sector, the ADC primari-ly supports programmes in the area of justice reform, access to justice at local level especially for the poor and margina-lised, legal aid as well as peace building. Strengthening the capacities of Local Council Courts is one important mea-sure in this regard. Local Council Courts (see pictures below) are the fi rst access points for millions of Ugandans living in rural areas. They can address themselves to these courts for settling different kinds of confl icts – family disputes or confl icts over land ownership, to name just a few. In most cases, people would not have the means to get their cases heard in formal courts – institutions which are often far away from their homes.

In a recent visit to a Local Council Court in the Pader District in Northern Ugan-da, I was able to see for myself the im-portance of these courts for the people. Thanks to continuous efforts to promote justice at local level, in the Local Council Court I visited almost 80 percent of the cases brought forward during the last six months could be settled there, without ha-ving to be referred to the higher level in the Judiciary. This marks a turning point in the lifves of the local population – peo-ple get justice without having to interrupt their daily working lives.

The Austrian Development Co-operation (ADC) in Uganda

Nadja HORESOVSKYAustrian Development Agency (ADA)

Uganda has taken many steps forward in recent years: Poverty has been reduced. Overall health of the population has im-proved. Justice has been enhanced.

These successes would not have been possible without the strong commitment of the Government of Uganda to lift the country out of decades of plight and poli-tical instability, nor without tireless efforts by numerous donor countries – including Austria – to support the country on this path.

Uganda is one of 15 priority countries of the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) worldwide and one of fi ve ADC- priority countries in Africa (alongside Burkina Faso, Cap Verde, Ethiopia and Mozambique). Since 1991, the ADC is re-presented by a fi eld offi ce in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, the staff of which moni-tors the implementation of the supported programmes and projects, is in constant dialogue with local partners including the Government of Uganda and civil society

Water and justice for Uganda

organisations and coordinates with other development partners.

The overall goal of the ADC in Uganda is to support the country in its efforts to sustainably eradicate poverty and contri-bute to the achievement of the Millenni-um Development Goals. In accordance with international commitments on Aid Effectiveness (i.e. 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, 2005 European Con-sensus on Development, 2007 EU Code of Conduct on Division of Labour), the ADC aligns its activities with the priorities of the Government of Uganda as defi ned in Uganda’s national Poverty Eradication Ac-tion Plan and coordinates its policies with other development partners. In the spirit of the division of labour, Austria focuses its support in Uganda on two priority sec-tors: “Water and Sanitation” and “Justice, Law and Order”. Special attention is given to the confl ict-affected areas of Northern Uganda.

In the Water and Sanitation sector, the ADC can draw on long-standing experience and expertise and is one of Uganda’s ma-jor partners thanks to numerous mea-sures in this sector. In all its measures, the ADC closely cooperates with relevant Ugandan ministries as well as local insti-tutions in the sector. Activities range from the construction of water supply and sa-nitation infrastructure to training of local staff and awareness-raising among the population. Thanks to these interventions, overall health in communities has been improved. Also, many children can go to school instead of spending hours every day walking long distances to fetch water for their families. Ten-year -old Constance from a small town in South-Western Ug-anda (see picture below) is just one of thousands of children benefi ting from water and sanitation activities. As young people are better educated, their opportu-nities on the job market rise. And as their opportunities rise, entire generations are lifted out of poverty.

ADC

Constance gets safe water at the nearby public wa-

ter tap in her home town in South -Western Uganda

copyright by: Stefan Pleger

copyright by: UNCDF

Local Council Court, Northern Uganda

25


Teledermatology Web Consul-tation and E-Learning Project Kampala-Mbarara, Uganda and Graz, Austria

Dr. Steven KADDUMedical University GrazMatthias WEISSGRAM Commission for Development studies

The Commission for Development Studies at the OeAD-GmbH (KEF) aims

at bridging the gap between science and development by supporting development-research oriented initiatives in developing countries of the South. The project described here is an example of a KEF-fun-ded program involving sci-entifi c cooperation between two Ugandan Universities and an Austrian University.

Limited Resources

Uganda is an East African country with a population of more than 28 million people, the majority (80%) of whom live in rural areas. Similar to other developing countries Uganda faces a number of challenges in health care delivery, including problems due to centralization of health services, and lack of adequate qualifi ed medical person-nel, infrastructure and resources. The ma-jority of trained health care workers (nearly 50% of the doctors and 40% of the nurses) are mainly concentrated in the Ugandan capital city Kampala, which has a popula-tion of only 1.35 million (4.6% of the total population).

Although skin diseases are rampant in Ug-anda, comprising up to 10-20% of all me-dical ailments, there are only two general dermatology health care clinics in the whole country with less than 5 trained dermato-logists. Dermatological services are availa-ble only in large towns in Kampala (Mulago

Uganda Teledermatology

ADC / kef

Teaching Hospital, Makerere University) and in Mbarara (Mbarara Hospital, Mbara-ra University of Science and Technology). Because of the high burden of patients in these 2 skin clinics there is also a relative shortage of other health workers, such as dermatology medical assistants and nurses. Moreover, especially at Mbarara University Hospital, there is limited access to scienti-fi c literature and quality medical education materials. Medical personnel often lack op-portunities and fi nancial means to attend conferences, workshops or seminars as part of their continuing medical education (CME).

Telemedicine in Uganda

A number of telemedicine projects have been established in Uganda as early as 1997, involving a range of medical disci-plines including radiology and internal me-dicine, among others. Benefi ts of this tech-nology to patients, health care workers and the health care system are therefore fairly well known.

The KEF-funded Teledermatology Web Con-sultation and E-Learning Project Kampala-Mbarara, Uganda and Graz, Austria was initiated in January 2007 and represents the fi rst teledermatology programme in the country. The main aim was to connect the Departments of Dermatology of the two major Ugandan teaching universities

Complementary to the ADC’s commitment to the two priority sectors,the ADC also supports projects in the area of gender, women empowerment, higher education and science, and delivers ad-hoc huma-nitarian assistance to Uganda in case of emergency situations. Last but not least, private sector development in Uganda is promoted via the ADC’s special pro-gramme for business partnerships.

Links and Contacts:

Information about the Austrian Development

Cooperation and the Austrian Development

Agency:

www.entwicklung.at

Contact Austrian Development Agency: of-

fi [email protected]

Contact Field Offi ce Kampala:

[email protected]

Ugandan Ministry of Finance, Planning and

Economic Development:

www.fi nance.go.ug

Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness: www.

oecd.org/document/18/0,2340,en_2649_323639

8_35401554_1_1_1_1,00.html

EU Code of Conduct on Division of Labour:

http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/r13003.

htm

European Consensus on Development: http://

europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/r12544.htm

copyright by: UNCDF

Local Council Court, Northern Uganda

26


mobile phones with built-in cameras. The main advantage of mobile phones is the low cost and ease of handling for transmis-sion of patients’ data. Moreover, in contrast to digital cameras and computers, mobile phones are easier to operate, require less time to send patients’ data and images, are more easily transportable, and may offer direct and instantaneous access and com-munication between local submitting health workers and remote consultants.

Project manager: Univ. Doz. Dr. Steven Kaddu, Department of Dermatology, Me-dical University Graz, Graz, Austria

Project partners in Uganda: Depart-ment of Dermatology, Makerere Universi-ty, Kampala and Department of Dermato-logy, Medical Faculty, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, MbararaWebsite: http://africa.telederm.org/

Other KEF-funded projects in Uganda:

Planning and Operationalization of an Open Nucleus Dairy Cattle Breeding Scheme in the Lake Victoria crescent region of Uganda 2004 – 2006

Use of solar water heaters in industrial pro-cesses to reduce furnace oil consumption and to improve economic competitiveness of industries 2004 – 2005

Evidence-based malaria interventions in a confl ict zone in Northern Uganda 2006 – 2008

www.kef-online.at/en/projekte/uganda-projekt-146-2006-2007.html

For further information on other KEF-pro-jects, news and reports please visit our website:

www.kef-online.at

(Makerere and Mbarara) with the Medical University Graz for teleconsultation and te-leteaching.

The project uses a newly developed web-site (http://africa.telederm.org/), acting as a hub between the three universities. Once logged on, local medical staff in Uganda can either upload images and clinical data for consultation, use the e-learning-platform, or discuss new ideas in the forum. Austri-an doctors analyse the submitted patient’s data and send their expertise back over the website.

Facts

From January 2007 to December 2008 140 consecutive problematic dermatological cases with over 320 clinical images have been processed over the project website. Among these 44% of cases represent pe-diatric dermatologic conditions and 33% Human Immunodefi ciency Virus (HIV)-as-sociated cutaneous disorders. A number of tele-teaching features are also available on the website.

These include a comprehensive list of der-matology literature sources, a dermatolo-gy curriculum, a list of exemplary cases with discussion in form of the “case of the month”, and a “discussion forum” for pro-blematic cases.

Nevertheless the project faces se-veral challenges

A number of limitations and challenges have been encountered during im-plementation of the pro-gram. Local health workers sometimes have reported upload and transmission of patients’ data (images and text) to be rather slow and time-consuming due to the slow internet speeds. Some hesitancy by local medical workers to adopt

teledermatology services probably due to discomfort in the routine use of computers has also occasionally been perceived.There have been a few reports of patients who refuse to be photographed or included in the project, mainly due to certain cultural/religious attitudes or lack of trust in data security or capability of this technology to improve their health.

Despite these limitations, referring medical personnel in Uganda have mainly indicated a high level of mutual satisfaction for both local medical staff using the system and for their patients.

Looking forward – outlook for the project

According to the project coordinators the main goal in the near future is to extend the network to remote areas in the whole country without dermatological services. To reach more patients in different parts of Uganda the smaller, regional hospitals have to be connected to the teledermato-logy network.

Recent advances in telecommunication technology should shortly enable replace-ment of computers and digital cameras by

kefTeledermatology - Kampala-Mbarara and Graz

27


Target group

Alumni of the North-South-Dialogue Scholarship Programme

For more information please contact:

Elke Stinnig, OeAD - Academic Coopera-tion and Mobility UnitT +43 1 4277-28171 | F +43 1 4277 [email protected]

Alumni conference North-South-Dialogue – From knowledge to practice, Bahir Dar; April 22-23, 2009

The North-South-Dialogue Scholarship Programme has proved to be a useful instrument in supporting science and re-search for development.

The programme contributes to poverty reduction by strengthening personal and institutional capacities of the developing countries through higher education and research by taking into account the regio-nal and thematic priorities of the Austrian Development Co-operation (ADC).

In the last 25 years more than 150 stu-dents and researchers from Ethiopia have successfully completed their MSc, PhD and research in various Austrians institu-tions with the support of this programme. Therefore the fi rst Alumni conference will be held in Ethiopia.

Objectives

Enhancing networking and exchange of experiences amongst Ethiopian North-South-Dialogue alumni and the Austri-an Coordination Offi ce Discussing expe-riences of scientifi c cooperation with Aus-trian institutions and at European levelDiscussing capacity building in the Amha-ra region against the background of the bilateral program SRMP-NG and the new strategy on higher education

Organisation

The conference is jointly organised by the Bahir Dar University, the Coordination Of-fi ce for Development Cooperation in Addis Ababa and the Austrian Agency for Inter-national Cooperation in Education and Re-search OeAD-GmbH.

Alumni conference / New alumni measure

Alumni activities

Funding for Scientifi c Coope-ration – New alumni measure

Within the North-South-Dialogue Scholar-ship Programme a new alumni measure has been established. The objectives are to promote scientifi c cooperation and to strengthen partnerships between higher education institutions and research insti-tutions in priority countries and regions of the Austrian Development Coopera-tion (ADC) and in Austria. North-South-Dialogue Alumni of ADC priority countries and regions working at a university or research institution in their home coun-tries can apply.

Two types of projects can be funded:

A ) Projects which guarantee dis-semination, implementation and advancement of the PhD results achieved in the home country

For example presentation of the results to stakeholders, publishing of results

Start of the project max. 1 year after completion of the studies

Benefi t: Max. 3000 € for the project

Costs for dissemination of research results and further research activities (payment as lump sum)

B) Projects which promote conti-nuous scientifi c cooperation and strengthen partnerships between higher education institutions and research institutions in the priority countries and regions of the ADC and in Austria

For example

Guest lectures / academic exchangeFunding for the initiation of projects / research cooperationSupport of cooperation in existing projects

Joint project between an alumnus of the North-South-Dialogue Scholarship Pro-gramme and former host institution

Start of project max. 3 year after comple-tion of studies

Benefi t: Max. 5000 € for the project

Costs for lectures, the initiation of pro-jects and research activities (payment as lump sum)Travel costs (upon submission of original invoices)

For more information about requirements and deadlines please contact:

Elke Stinnig, OeAD - Academic Coopera-tion and Mobility UnitT +43 1 4277-28171 | F +43 1 4277 28194, [email protected]

28


Neues zur OeAD-GmbH(Austrian Agency for Interna-tional Cooperation in Educa-tion and Research)

Hubert DÜRRSTEINCEO of the OeAD

Die OeAD-GmbH zeigt sich im neuen De-sign – ein erstes sichtbares Zeichen, dass sich in der OeAD-GmbH einiges tut. Und in der Tat hat der bereits im letzten Jahr be-gonnene Entwicklungsprozess jetzt volle Fahrt aufgenommen. Im letzten IAM habe ich verschiedene Eckpunkte zum Stand der Entwicklung genannt und es ist uns bisher gelungen, den Fahrplan konsequent einzuhalten:

1. Der Übergang vom Verein ÖAD zur OeAD-GmbH ist mit 1. Januar 2009 pro-blemlos erfolgt. Technisch-administrativ konnte so vorgesorgt werden, dass der „Normalbetrieb“ mit der erforderlichen Kontinuität und Routine weiter gelaufen

OeAD News

General information

ist und parallel dazu im Hintergrund damit begonnen werden konnte, Strukturen und Prozesse den veränderten Anforderungen systematisch anzupassen. Konkret wur-den die internen Serviceabteilungen ein-gerichtet, die Aufgabenbereiche defi niert und ich habe im Interesse der Kontinuität

die Aufgaben wie folgt verteilt. Dr. Gaunerstorfer leitet die Abteilung Personal, Recht und Infrastruktur, Mag. Hörmann ist zuständig für die Finanzen und Dr. Wilcek ist der An-sprechpartner für Öffentlichkeits-arbeit und Beratung.

2. Bis zum September dieses Jahres sind gemäß OeAD-Gesetz das erste Unternehmenskonzept und die da-zugehörigen Arbeitsprogramme vorzulegen. Die strategische Pla-nung und die Überlegungen zu de-ren Umsetzung fordern uns daher derzeit in einem weit über Normal-mass liegenden Umfang, wobei uns seit Mitte Januar auch der neu kon-stituierte Strategiebeirat (siehe dazu auch OeAD-Website, www.oead.at) unterstützt. Namhafte Expertinnen und Experten mit unterschiedlichen Zugängen zur Internationalität und Internationalisierung in Bildung und Forschung stehen uns somit zum permanenten fachlichen Austausch

zur Seite. Ein weiteres Anliegen ist es jetzt auch, unsere bisherigen internen Überle-gungen zur zukünftigen Entwicklung der OeAD-GmbH mit möglichst vielen Partner/innen („Stakeholdern“) aus dem gesamten Bildungs- und Forschungsbereich rückzu-koppeln. So sind demnächst Workshops und Diskussionen mit den Universitäten, den Fachhochschulen, anderen Agenturen, aber auch Vertreter/innen aus dem schu-lischen Bereich und der Erwachsenenbil-dung sowie natürlich auch mit zuständigen Stellen bei den verschiedenen Ministerien geplant. Im Mittelpunkt steht der Dialog als Basis für kundenorientierte Service-leistungen und koordinierte Aktionen zur Stärkung internationaler Agenden.

3. Eine unabdingbare begleitende Maß-nahme für eine erfolgreiche Entwicklung und Positionierung der OeAD-GmbH ist das gemeinsame Haus der internationa-len Bildungskooperation. Die laufenden Planungen und Verhandlungen werden leider wie auch manches andere von der unerfreulichen wirtschaftlichen Situation überschattet. Selbstverständlich haben wir entsprechend reagiert und versuchen, machbare Wege aufzuzeigen und hoffen damit, in diesem wichtigen Vorhaben möglichst bald die Ziellinie zu erreichen.

4. Ein drängendes Thema ist bei jedem Veränderungsprozess die Auswirkung auf den Außenauftritt. Ich habe eingangs das neue Gesicht des IAM erwähnt und Sie fi n-den in diesem Heft noch eine ganze Reihe zusätzlicher Informationen zu diesem The-ma. Unsere Abteilung für Öffentlichkeits-arbeit wird sich in den nächsten Wochen den weiteren Umsetzungsarbeiten – wie z.B. der Gestaltung der neuen Homepage oder der Anpassung der Informationsma-terialen – intensiv zuwenden.

Auch wenn uns die bisherige Entwicklung und die verschiedenen neu an uns he-rangetragenen Aktivitäten – wie z.B. die Einrichtung einer Bologna-Servicestelle – durchaus zuversichtlich stimmen, blicken wir mit großer Sorge auf die wirtschaft-lichen Rahmenbedingungen. Bei allem Verständnis für Angemessenheit wäre es ein falsches Signal, wenn die erfolgver-sprechenden Bemühungen, sich internati-onal zu positionieren, sich national besser abzustimmen und intern die Expertise in geeigneter Weise zu bündeln, aufgrund einer unzureichenden fi nanziellen Aus-stattung scheitern würden. Ein wichtiger Beitrag, einerseits die Integration und die Toleranz für andere Kulturen zu fördern und sich andererseits dem zunehmend in-ternationalen Wettbewerb stellen zu kön-nen, ginge damit verloren.

29


Management of Change oder Wandel ist machbar

Eva MÜLLNER & Felix WILCEKOeAD Public Relations

„Wenn etwas besser werden soll, muss es anders werden.“Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Organisationen und somit auch deren Ma-nagement und die Mitarbeiter/innen sind ständig mit Veränderungen konfrontiert. Eine Fusion, bei der verschiedene Abtei-lungen und Kulturen zusammenwachsen müssen oder Veränderungen der Struk-

turen und Abläufe sind besondere Herausforderungen.

Der Verein ÖAD wur-de per 1.1.2009

z u r O e A D -

G m b H . Mit der Um-

wandlung der Organisations-

form gingen auch zahlreiche andere

Veränderungen ein-her, was nicht zuletzt

durch ein neues Erschei-nungsbild, also ein neues

Corporate Design (CD) und eine neue Corporate Identity (CI) ausge-drückt werden soll.

Versteht man unter Corporate Identity (CI) die Art und Weise, wie sich eine Or-ganisation in Bezug auf Selbstdarstellung und Verhaltensweisen nach innen und außen präsentiert, so trägt das Corpo-rate Design mit dem Einsatz visu- e l le r Gestaltungsmittel zu einem un-verwechselbaren Unterneh-mensbild bei, das die Identität, die Kultur und Vision eines Unternehmens widerspiegelt.

General information

ein neues Logo für die GmbH aus-gewählt.

Neben ei-ner ein-he i t l i chen Hausschrift und einem e i n h e i t -lichen Gestaltungsraster ist das Logo wohl eines der wichtigsten Bestandteile des Corporate Design.

Ein Logo zu gestalten bedeutet sich Zeit zu nehmen, es fordert eine genaue Ana-lyse der Organisation, Logos müssen den höchsten Anforderungen gerecht werden, welche teilweise nur durch Kompromisse möglich sind.

Verständlichkeit, Unverwechselbarkeit, Einprägsamkeit und Reproduzierbar-keit waren dann auch Kriterien für die Auswahl unseres neuen Logos; um die Vielfalt der OeAD-GmbH und das breitge-fächerte Spektrum der diversen Services im Rahmen der Bildungsmobilität auf-zuzeigen, wurde neben dem sehr klaren und zurückhaltenden Schriftzug oead ein Farbschema in Form von Sprechblasen gewählt.

Parallel zur Einführung der neuen Logos in allen Abteilungen der OeAD-GmbH arbeiten wir an der einheitlichen Gestaltung in Bezug auf die Verwendung des Firmennamens, der Geschäftspapiere, -briefe, der diversen Prospekte und Informationsbroschüren, Formulare und Visitenkarten.

Des Weiteren zählen hierzu auch die Gestaltung von Messeständen, diverser Giveaways usw.. Das Corporate Design muss

OeAD News - New Corporate Design of the OeAD

Die Abteilung PR & Öffentlichkeitsarbeit der OeAD-GmbH wurde beauftragt, diesen Prozess einzuleiten, diese Veränderungen

im Be-reich des Corporate Designs zu managen und den laufenden Betrieb so wenig wie möglich zu belasten.

Das neue Corporate Design der OeAD-GmbH sollte folgende Kriterien erfüllen: Aufmerksam-keitswert, Prägnanz, Eigenständigkeit, Wiedererkennungswert, Langlebigkeit, Variationen und Ausbaufähigkeit, Ästhe-tik und Modernität (zeitgemäßes Empfi n-den).

Nach einer Ausschreibungsphase wurde die Firma FINELINE mit der Neugestaltung des Corporate Design der OeAD-GmbH betraut. Seitens einer für diesen Prozess installierten „Arbeitsgruppe CD“ wur-de nach langen und sehr intensiven Diskussionsphasen

30


OeAD News

sich wie ein roter Faden unverwechselbar und konstant durch das Erscheinungsbild und Auftreten des Unternehmens ziehen.

Hausschrift

Kriterium für die Auswahl einer Haus-schrift war, dass sie möglichst zeitlos ist und keinem bestimmten Modetrend folgt.

Für die Printmedien wurde die Schrift SHA-KER ausgewählt, für den Online-Bereich – aufgrund der Kompatibilität mit den ver-schiedenen Usern – TAHOMA.

In den meisten Abteilungen der OeAD-GmbH werden das neue Logo und die Schrift bereits verwendet, die Nationala-gentur Lebenslanges Lernen wird nach der nächsten Ausschrei-bungsrunde auf das neue Er-schienungsbild umstellen.

Alle Printprodukte sowie die Website der OeAD-GmbH werden im Laufe des Jah-res auf das neue Design umgestellt. Das bisherige Feedback zu unserem neuen Er-scheinungsbild war durchaus positiv und wir hoffen, dass es auch in Ihren Augen Gefallen fi ndet.

Falls Sie Fragen oder Anregungen zum neuen Corporate Design der OeAD-GmbH haben, wenden Sie sich an die Abteilung Öf-fentlichkeitsarbeit ([email protected]).

General informationNew organisational units at the OeAD

AUNO

Michael DENGG

Das ASEA UNINET – „ASEAN-European University Network“ – wurde im Jahr 1994 auf Initiative von Univ.-Prof. Dr. DDDDr. h.c. Bernd Michael Rode, Leiter des In-stituts für Allgemeine, Anorganische und Theoretische Chemie der Uni-versität Innsbruck, gegründet. Inzwischen befi nden sich 66 Universitäten aus 16 Ländern im Netzwerk, dessen regi-onale Ausrichtung sich derzeit über Europa, die ASEAN-Staaten und Pakistan erstreckt.

In diesem Jahr werden von ASEA UN-INET ca. 80 Pro-j e k t e ö s -t e r -r e i -c h i s c h e r Universitäten in Thailand, Indonesien, Viet-nam, Pakistan und a u f den Philippinen gefördert u n d Stipendienprogramme für die o b e n erwähnten Länder verwaltet.

Neben dem Austausch von Studierenden werden auch zahlreiche Delegationsbe-

suche stattfi nden und zwei Asian Stu-dy Programmes („Summer Schools“)

durchgeführt.

Das AUNO – „Austrian University Network Offi ce“ – ist das zentrale Büro, das mit der Durchführung dieser Agenden betraut ist und diese verwaltet. Unterstützt wird es in der Abwicklung durch andere Abteilungen des OeAD.

Aufgabe des AUNO ist es, die Admini-stration des Universitätsnetzwerks ASEA UNINET zu unterstützen und somit zur Intensivierung des wissenschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Austauschs zwischen den Zielregionen beizutragen.

Die Zielsetzungen des AUNO liegen u.a. in der Vorbereitung und Abwicklung von

Delegationsbesuchen im Bildungs-, Wissenschafts- und Wirtschafts-

bereich, der Anbahnung und Pfl ege von Univer-

sitätskooperationen, der Unterstützung i n t e rna t i ona l e r

Forschungskoopera-tionen, der Organisa-

tion von Sitzungen des österreichischen ASEA

UNINET-Kuratoriums und der Vorbereitung von und der

Teilnahme an den internationa-len Konferenzen des Netzwerks

(National Coordinators Meetings, Plenary Meetings), der Planung von

Austauschprogrammen für akade-misches Personal und Studierende, der

EDV-mäßigen Katalogisierung aller ASEA UNINET-Vorgänge und -Akten und der Anfertigung von Studien zu Projekten mit ASEA UNINET-Bezug.

Weitere Informationen können der Home-page des Netzwerks

http://asea-uninet.uibk.ac.at/

entnommen werden.

31


Commission for Development Studies

Since January 1st, 2009 the Commission for Development Studies (KEF) is located at the Austrian Exchange Service (OeAD-GmbH).

„Researchers on the Move“

Intercultural communication in scientifi c research partnerships

Maiada Gassan HADAIA

In the European Year of the Intercultural Dialogue (EYID) 2008 the Commission for Development Studies (KEF) started the project “Researchers on the move. Inter-cultural Dimensions in Sciences and Huma-nities” together with its partners.

It has become more the norm that re-searchers work in international teams, it is crucial to understand how people with different backgrounds can harmoniously interface with each other. One way of do-ing this is to draw from experiences and observations of people who worked in the-se teams and this is what the Commission for Development Studies (KEF) has done in a workshop in Vienna in March 2009. An activity of the one-year-long project “Researchers on the Move. Intercultural Dimensions in Sciences and Humanities.”

Interculturality as a predominant trend of

New organisational units at the OeAD

General information

necessary to refl ect on the concepts of “learning” and “culture” and how these concepts were understood under the light of institutions and even team partners en-gaged in a starting research phase.”

Can Austria be considered an attractive place for scientifi c research? What are the living and working conditions for re-searchers in Austria? The past years have shown that there is only a very limited level of dialogue possible about some of its most pressing issues. The project Re-searchers on the Move facilitates critical discourse about interculturality in sciences and humanities and at the same time cre-ates an opportunity for researchers from different backgrounds and nationalities to meet and exchange their views.

The heterogeneous group at the inter-active workshop in Vienna, their moti-vation to participate and their interest in the issue led us to have a collective re-fl ection on interculturality in North-South

co-operations, the underlying factors and ambiguities, through a process of sharing individual experiences.

A summary of the results of the discus-sions and the keynotes from Alicia and Helen will be published on our weblog. Also the radio broadcast and all other in-formation about the project you can fi nd here:www.researchers-on-the-move.net

Furthermore do not hesitate to comment the articles, written by researchers on the issue. The next workshop will be in June

our contemporary world offers us a new opportunity but at the same time raises questions that make us aware of a number of challenges that we have to consider, for example racism, unequal power relations between partners from the so called North and South when it comes to knowledge or scientifi c methods and much more.

It was the aim of this workshop to ena-ble the participants to discuss and elabo-rate on better methods for understanding scientifi c cooperation in an intercultural context.

To provide the background for these dis-cussions the two invited keynote speakers talked about their very personal expe-riences und observations. Helen Nakim-bugwe, an agriculturalist from Uganda, a former PhD student and North-South-Dia-logue scholar at Vienna University of Na-tural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU) in 2005. She is now a livestock geneticist at the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Databank (NAGRC & DB) in Entebbe and lecturer at Makerere University. Helen is also a member of a number of international research teams.

Alicia Cabezudo from Argentina is a social scientist with focus on education for peace and global learning. She did her PhD at the University of Buenos Aires in 1991 and is now visiting professor at the University in Barcelona, Spain.

Austria has not proven to be the best exam ple in Europe in terms of its treat-ment of and policies towards people from different backgrounds and nationalities. Though positively concluded, Helen said in her speech that “the challenges of a black person interfacing with the Austrian culture were many (…) and racism came in different forms.”

Alicia suggested that “for the purpose of analyzing interculturality in scienti-fi c research and on-fi eld team work it is

32



General information

Sparkling Science

Petra SIEGELE

Mit 1. März 2009 übernimmt die OeAD-GmbH das Programm Sparkling Science des Bundesministeriums für Wissenschaft und Forschung. Sparkling Science fördert Projekte aus allen Wissenschaftsfeldern, in welchen Schülerinnen und Schüler ak-tiv in den Forschungsprozess einbezogen werden, besondere Aufmerksamkeit gilt dabei jedoch der Zuerkennung von Mitteln zur Förderung von Frauen in der Wissen-schaft und der Förderung von Mädchen im natur- und technikwissenschaftlichen Un-terricht. Voraussetzung für die Förderung von Projekten ist die Erreichbarkeit eines doppelten Mehrwertes durch die Zusam-menarbeit von Forschung und Bildung:

Auf Seiten der Forschung ein Mehrwert für die Erreichung von projektspezifi schen Erkenntniszielen, auf Seiten der Bildung ein Mehrwert für die Erreichung von Un-terrichtszielen und für die Entwicklung zeitgemäßer Lernkompetenzen.

Sparkling Science wurde im Dezem-ber 2007 vom BMWF in enger Zu-sammenarbeit mit dem BMUKK aus der Taufe gehoben, der strategische Planungshorizont ist auf 10 Jahre ausgelegt. Derzeit laufen 32 Projekte (plus 9 Pionierpro-jekte) aus dem Be-reich Wissenschaft. Im Rahmen der zweiten Linie des Programms unter-stützt das BMWF darüber hinaus 26 forschungsorien-tierte Schulpro-

jekte, die in Zusammenarbeit mit Wissen-schafterInnen durchgeführt werden.

Mit der kommenden Ausschreibung, die noch im März 2009 starten soll, werden 15 bis 20 weitere Forschungsvorhaben dotiert und weitere 30 forschungsorien-tierte Schulprojekte ausgezeichnet wer-den. Je nach wissenschaftlicher Komple-xität haben die Projekte des Programms sehr unterschiedliche Größenordnungen. Der Projektumfang reicht von großen For-schungsvorhaben mit einem Volumen von bis zu 187.000,- Euro bis hin zu sehr viel kleineren und weniger komplexen Schul-projekten. Auch diese kleinen Schulpro-jekte sind jedoch in Zusammenarbeit mit ‚echten’ laufenden Forschungsvorhaben durchzuführen.

Mit 1. März hat die OeAD-GmbH die Ab-wicklung des Programms von KulturKon-takt Austria übernommen. Für die Abwick-lung sind Frau Mag. Petra Siegele (Leitung) und Frau Mag. Barbara Luger (Assistenz) zuständig.

The A

ustr

ian

data

base

for s

chol

arsh

ips a

nd re

sear

ch g

rant

s Th

e Aus

tria

n da

taba

se fo

r sch

olar

ship

s and

rese

arch

gra

nts

ww

w.g

rant

s.at

ww

w.g

rant

s.at

33



General information

Bologna

David BALDINGER

Seit Anfang 2009 gibt es die Österreichische Bologna-Servicestelle der Oead-GmbH. Als Teil der Abteilung Öffentlichkeitsarbeit dient die sie der weiterführenden Veran-kerung der Bologna-Ziele in der österrei-chischen Hochschullandschaft. Sie versteht sich als übergreifende und unabhängige Bera-tungsstelle für den ge-samten österreichischen Hochschulbereich. Ein Hauptziel besteht darin, das vorhandene Wissen und Potential der über 60 österreichischen Bo-logna-KoordinatorInnen zu sammenzu füh r en und stärker zu nützen. Dieses an den Instituti-onen vorhandene Netz-werk soll in Zukunft be-sonders aktiviert und für die Umsetzung der Ziele des Bologna-Prozesses genutzt werden.

Für die Hochschulein-richtungen möchte die Österreichische Bolo-gna-Servicestelle eine praxisnahe und direkte Anlaufstelle sein, die An-liegen, Fragen und Vor-schläge möglichst rasch und ohne bürokratische Hürden bearbeitet. Es wird angestrebt, maßgeschneiderte Service- und Unterstüt-zungspakete für die individuellen Heraus-forderungen einer Institution, eines Sek-tors oder auch einer Region zu entwerfen und anzubieten.

In den vergangenen Jahren wurde der Verweis auf eine Vielfalt an Bologna-Pro-zessen zum gefl ügelten Wort. Die Bolo-gna-Servicestelle macht es sich zur Aufga-

be, die vielfältigen Bologna-Erfahrungen zu bündeln und als Vorteil zu nützen. Das Lernen von einander soll erleichtert und die Überwindung von sektoral geprägten Herangehensweisen gefördert werden.

Zudem versteht sich die Österreichische Bologna-Servicestelle der Oead-GmbH als Relais zwischen der Praxis der Bologna-Umsetzung an einzelnen Hochschulein-

richtungen einerseits und nationalen wie europäischen Entwicklungen andererseits.

Für Rückfragen steht Ihnen Mag. David Baldinger jederzeit gerne zur Verfügung.Kontakt: David BaldingerÖffentlichkeitsarbeit | Public RelationsÖsterreichische Bologna-Servicestelle | Austrian Bologna Service PointTel- +43 1 [email protected]

Austria - Ethiopia

Visit of the Austrian Delegation in Ethiopia (19-22 February 2009)

Hubert DÜRRSTEIN & Irene MÜLLEROeAD

An Austrian delegation composed of re-presentatives of the Federal Ministry of Science and Research, the Austrian Agen-cy for International Cooperation in Ed-ucation & Research (OeAD) and of two Austrian universities (University of Vienna, University of Natural Resources & Applied Life Sciences) visited Ethiopia in February 2009.

The visit took place in the framework of the “Memorandum of Understanding bet-ween the Ministry of Education of the Fe-deral Republic of Ethiopia and the Federal Minister of Science and Research of the Republic of Austria on Cooperation in the Areas of Higher Education, Science and Research“, which had been signed by the two Ministers in Addis Ababa in January 2008, its main goal being the encoura-gement of direct cooperation in science, research and technology between the re-spective institutions of higher education and research organizations.

During the fi rst day an Information Ses-sion on ”Ethiopian-Austrian Cooperation in Higher Education and Research“ took place on the premises of the Goethe-Insti-tut and attracted more than 50 interested participants. The event, which was jointly organized by the Austrian Embassy, the ADC Coordination Offi ce, the Federal Mi-nistry of Education & Research and the OeAD was highlighted by the presence of the two Ethiopian Ministers of Education and of Science & Technology. The Austrian representatives presented an overview of the already existing cooperation schemes in the fi elds of education and research between the two countries and outlined possibilities for still closer links in the fu-ture.

34


Both sides expressed their interest and intention to continue the cooperation and some concrete next steps were formula-ted by the participants:

- continuation of monitoring and guidance of the strategic development process (Prof. Hoellinger)

- 3-month assignment of an expert for gender issues from the University of Vi-enna to coach employees in the University Women’s Affair Offi ce (University of Vien-na representative: Prof. Dr. Horst Seidler)

- support with curriculum development for the Faculty of Agriculture & Rural Deve-lopment offered by the University of Na-

tural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU Vienna), represented by Prof. Dr. Jean Schneider, Prof. Dr. Willibald Lois-kandl and Prof. Dr. Herwig Waidbacher

- possible organization of multi-disciplina-ry workshops on problems of sustainable

shortage of facilities and infrastructure, in particular the weak ICT infrastructure and gender inequality. As all study programmes are taught in En-glish the university is strongly interested in developing internatio-nal linkages.

Aksum University comprises fi ve academic departments (faculties): social sciences & languages, technology, natural sciences & mathematics, business & commerce, ag-riculture & rural development. There are 41 departments with 323 teaching staff, 6% of those being women. Some of the staff members are on leave for their PhD or master’s degree. The main goals of the uni-versity management are massive capacity building and the pro-curement of equip-ment.

The Austrian delegati-on, led by Mag. Barbara Weitgruber, Seni-or Adviser for Strategy and Coordination in the fi eld of international relations, Federal Ministry of Science & Research, gave pre-sentations about the two Austrian univer-sities which could become potential “part-ners” for Aksum University and provided an overview about existing funding me-chanisms for coopera-tion in education and research. The pos-sibilities offered by the new EU funding schemes within FP7 and the EU-ACP coo-peration programme were met with high interest.

At the end of the session the representa-tive of the Federal Ministry of Science & Research extended to both Ministers of-fi cial invitations by Minister Hahn to visit Austria which they accepted with pleasu-re.

On the second day of the visit a “Partne-ring Day” was held at Aksum University in the Northern part of Ethiopia. Aksum University is situated outside the historical town of Aksum in Northern Tigray close to the Eritrean border. It is one of 13 newly founded Ethiopian universities with an ap-proximate student population of 4000, the fi nal target of student intake being 8000.

Austria has made a special commitment to supporting the development of Aksum University by providing expertise for the creation of an overall university quality strategy. Prof. Sigurd Hoellinger, former Director General for Higher Education at the Federal Ministry of Science & Research, has been involved as senior adviser over the last two years and his report on the present situation and on future perspec-tives (containing 18 recommendations) has met with high approval of the univer-sity representatives. Both President Dr. Mebrahtom Mehfi n and Vice-President Dr. Aklilu Hailemichael pointed out the diffi cu-lt situation of their young university right now but they also showed great enthusi-asm and commitment for a positive futu-re development. At present the university still struggles with fundamental problems such as lack of experienced academic staff,

Visit of the Austrian Delegation in Ethiopia

General information

35


land-use supported by the Commission for Development Studies within the OeAD, represented by Prof. Dr. Gerhard Glatzel, professor emeritus of BOKU Vienna.

- support and guidance in the organization of research training courses to be offered by the Austrian research funding agency FFG (Austrian Agency for the Promotion of Research, represented by Dr. Sabine Herlitschka).

- support in all matters of information pro-vision concerning bi- or multilateral fun-ding schemes to be offered by the OeAD (Austrian Agency for International Coope-ration in Education and Research, repre-sented by CEO Prof. Dr. Hubert Duerrstein and Dr. Irene Mueller)

Both the president and the vice-president of Aksum University were invited to Aus-tria and gladly accepted the invitation.

On the last day of the visit the delegati-on had the opportunity to visit the EARO Research Station as well as experimen-tal fi elds in the hills near Holeta. Guided by Dr. Kindu Mekonnen, a former North-South-Dialogue scholar and PhD student of Prof. Dr. Gerhard Glatzel, the group was confronted with some of the critical land use issues in the Ethiopian highlands and learned about sustainable ways to impro-ve the situation.

In a fi nal wrap-up session in the ADC Coor-dination Offi ce all Austrian representatives agreed that a further strengthening of the Ethiopian-Austrian relations in higher ed-ucation and research would be highly be-nefi cial for the country and that all efforts should be made to intensify the existing links. Very concrete steps will have to be formulated especially in the further colla-boration with Aksum University in order to guarantee a maximum benefi t. The mem-bers of the delegation confi rmed their wil-lingness to continue their involvement in this important project.

Austria - Ethiopia

Publications

KKS Poster:

Scholarships and Research Grants in Austria 2008-2009

The KKS poster provides important infor-mation (deadlines, requirements, submis-sion, etc.) about possible scholarships and grants in Austria for students, postgradu-ates & post-docs from developing coun-tries in Africa, Asia & Latin America.

The KKS – Kontaktkommittee Studien-förderung 3.Welt – is a joint discussion, opinion-making and action platform of all institutions dealing with study support and educational collaboration issues in Aus-tria. In this context the KKS acts as a link between supporting organisations of the study support programmes, the decision-makers in politics, the universities and the Austrian Development Co-operation.

To be ordered from: [email protected]

KKS Poster

Kooperationen AuslandspraktikumDeutsch als Fremdsprache(in German)

Preface of the Austrian Federal Minister of Science and Research:

Im Jahr 1994 wurde das Stipendienpro-gramm für Auslandspraktika im Fach „Deutsch als Fremdsprache“ entwickelt. Es unterstützt Studierende im zweiten Studienabschnitt des Faches „Deutsch als Fremdsprache“, die die besonderen He-rausforderungen des Lehrens von Deutsch als Fremdsprache im Ausland kennen ler-nen möchten. Was als Pilotprojekt mit 17 Stipendien begann, hat sich im Laufe der Jahre zu einem fi xen Studienangebot ent-wickelt.

Im Studienjahr 2008/2009 werden rund 50 österreichische Studierende ihr Praktikum in 45 verschiedenen Ländern absolvieren. Damit hat sich die Anzahl der Plätze fast verdreifacht. Und das Interesse an mutter-sprachlichen Praktikantinnen und Prakti-kanten ist an den Germanistikinstituten im Ausland ungebrochen. Grenzüberschrei-tende wissenschaftliche Zusammenarbeit wird in einer globalen Welt immer wich-tiger, und dazu gehört auch das Erlernen verschiedener Sprachen. Österreich zeigt mit diesem Programm, dass ihm die För-derung des Erwerbs der deutschen Spra-che mit österreichischer Varietät wichtig ist. Insgesamt kann eine äußerst positive Bilanz gezogen werden.

Die Studierenden und Graduierten pro-fi tieren von ihren Praxisaufententhalten nicht nur für ihr Studium und ihre künf-tige Lehrtätigkeit, sondern auch persön-lich durch die speziellen interkulturellen Erfahrungen und neuen Freundschaften, die dabei entstehen. Die engagierten und erfrischenden Berichte der Studierenden geben ein beredtes Zeichen von diesem persönlichen Gewinn. Ich freue mich, auch diese Gelegenheit dazu nutzen zu können,

OeAD Publications

36


at the beginning of the 1990s to the partnership of today of Vienna University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture and Planning, and the National University Lviv Poly-technic, Faculty of Architecture. The two universities of Vienna and Lviv carry out numerous joint activities, amongst which joint courses, which are part of the course offerings of both universi-ties, or also joint research projects that become manifest in the busy publication activities. Besides, there are mutual visiting profes-sorships in those areas in which the partner possesses a higher competence.

A partnership is never a one-way street! The contributions in this publication provide valuable in-sights into the diversity of the joint activities. Whether it is the architectural survey of old structures or suggestions for a revitalisation of estates of precast con-crete slab buildings, industrial or harbour

areas – in each case ideas are de-veloped together with and by stu-dents and steps towards putting them into practice are carried out together with the responsible per-sons in politics. This is an impor-tant aspect since the students are to learn how political discussions and decision-making infl uence the projects. This can also, such as in the case of the projects for the re-integration of the Crimean Tartars who were deported by Stalin, or the implications of the European football championship 2012 for the urban development of Lviv, be of utmost political relevance and topicality.

Together developments that up to then had not yet been analy-sed scientifi cally and that literally represent border zones are ex-

um meinen aufrichtigen Dank Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Krumm und Dr. Renate Faistauer auszusprechen. Ohne sie wäre diese Erfolgsgeschichte nicht möglich gewesen. Ich wünsche dem Programm weiterhin viel Erfolg und den Leserinnen und Lesern dieser Broschüre viele neue Eindrücke.

Dr. Johannes HahnBundesminister fürWissenschaft und Forschung

Kooperationen Vienna Univer-sity of Technology | National University Lviv Polytechnic

Preface of the Austrian Federal Minister of Science and Research:

The development from the fi rst few and sometimes hesitant contacts to a real partnership takes time, a lot of time. This applies both to academic, business and personal partnerships. This edition of “Ko-operationen” shows the long and exciting way leading from the fi rst few contacts

PublicationsOeAD Publications: Kooperationen

amined. The existence of the so-called “new markets” is a challenge for science not only from the point of view of urban development; in this topic many different scientifi c disciplines are involved.

The strong political aspect in the various articles shows very well that behind all this there are people who take up different oc-cupational paths as a consequence of their subjective experiences and developments. What all texts have in common is the di-stinct happiness with the experiences their authors have made. In this context I would like to thank all those who for many years already have contributed by their commitment to enable young people to make such valuable experiences. On this note I wish this partnership all the best for the future!

Dr. Johannes HahnFederal Minister for Scienceand Research

37


respectively, as well as in the Austrian contextGood practice models: internationalisation, scientifi c co-operations, networks, mobility programmes, international study programmes as well as develop-ment policy contents and appropriate methods in teaching and research

The conference is the initiative of the si-gnatories of the position paper “Educatio-nal cooperation in higher education in the context of development cooperation”. The Round Table Educational Cooperation in-volves 15 Austrian public and private insti-tutions dealing with students from develo-ping countries at Austrian universities.

For further information please see the publication “Educational coo-peration in higher education in the context of development cooperation”www.kks-bza.at > Publikationen: “Educa-tional cooperation in higher education in the context of development cooperation” - Executive Summary (in English)

The conference is jointly organised by the Austrian Agency for International Coope-ration in Education and Research (OeAD-GmbH), the Contact Committee for the Support of Students from Third World Countries (KKS), Universities Austria (uni-ko, former Austrian Rectors’ Conference), Austrian Association of Universities of Ap-plied Sciences (FHK) and others.

www.oead.at/internationalisierung

Conference

Internationalisation and development policy dimensi-ons at universities and uni-versities of applied sciences

April 16 - 17, 2009University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna

In a globalised world, in which global problems can only be resolved globally, tertiary education, science and research are of specifi c importance. At the same time internationalisation processes have also gained more and more importance at universities and universities of applied sci-ences. To what extent development policy dimensions also play or should play a role in terms of global responsibility will be dis-cussed at the Conference.

Aims:

Expansion of the internationalisation debate by development policy dimen-sions: Development policy concerns in teaching and research – co-operation – mobilityStrengthening of the dialogue between the “scientifi c community” and the actors in Development Co-operation, including the perspective of the partner countries (“outside view”)

Priority topics:

Interface between teaching/research and the development policy claim in the international and European discourse,

Conference: Internationalisation and development policy dimensions

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Editor and Publisher:OeAD (Österreichische Austauschdienst)-

Gesellschaft mit beschränkter HaftungAustrian Agency for International Cooperation

in Education and Research (OeAD-GmbH)A-1090 Wien, Alser Straße 4/1/3/8

Head Offi ce: Vienna | FN 320219 k | Commercial Court Vienna | DVR 4000157 |

ATU64808925Tel: 01/4277-28180, Fax: 01/4277-28195,

e-mail: [email protected]://www.oead.at

Editors in charge: Elke Stinnig, Eva Müllner

Layout: Eva Müllner.

Contributions by: Mushahid ANWAR, David BAGUMA, David BALDINGER, Romina

BRASCA, Michael DENGG, Daniela GRAF, Georg GRATZER, Yordanka GLUHCHE-

VA, Hubert DÜRRSTEIN, Maiada Gassan HADAIA, Nadja HORESOVSKY, Constantine

LOUM, Martin MARANI, Emanuel MAR-TIN, Paul MPUGA, Irene MÜLLER, Eva MÜLLNER, Florence NANGENDO, Oscar OUMA, Cezary PIECZETOWSKI, Yamirka

ROJAS-AGRAMONTE, Petra SIEGELE, Elke STINNIG, Felix WILCEK.

Picture credits: Photos courtesy of the contributors

Translation: Irmgard Schmoll; most of the contributions were provided in English.

The contributions in this brochure refl ect the opinions of the authors and do not necessa-

rily correspond with that of the editors.

Vienna, April 2009 © OeAD-GmbH

OeAD Alumni Newsletter 1 / 2009 AALUMNI ... - TU Wiengebeshuber/alumni1-09.pdf · conference...

Documents

Transcript of OeAD Alumni Newsletter 1 / 2009 AALUMNI ... - TU Wiengebeshuber/alumni1-09.pdf · conference...